Earthbound

For each of us, there is one event or series of events that shapes the direction of our lives. For the author, Raymond Evans Ballinger, that event occurred at age seven when his mother abandoned her family, leaving two young sons in the care of her husband. Raymond Evans Ballinger grew up with an obsessive need to understand what there was about him that had allowed his mother to leave. His life became a journey of exploration, complicated by his deep-seated ties to the land and family home, The Homestead where he was raised. Part memoir, part oral history, Earthbound is a story of resilience, love, hate, and redemption. Set in the rich farmland of Western New Jersey beginning in 1914, the story is told through the voices of three generations which transcends a family biography to become a social history of our national experience that gives you a deeper understanding of what America is all about. Earthbound is a richly detailed portrait of a society in transition, as small family farms gave way to an increasingly urbanized lifestyle. Ballinger became an actor, teacher, director, photographer, horse breeder and more. He married twice and fathered two sons and a daughter. Ten years before his death in 2005, he began researching Earthbound, beginning by interviewing members of his family in a quest to uncover the roots of the man he had become.