Babette Ballinger

Babette Ballinger was born in the Bronx, grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University. She lived in both Los Angeles and New York City, where she enjoyed a successful career as a fashion designer before founding her own knitwear company.

With her husband, director, actor, and writer Raymond Ballinger, she made her home in Rhinebeck, New York, where they raised their daughter alongside horses, dogs, chickens, and lambs. Together they also founded and managed the Rhinebeck Summer Theatre, creating a vibrant home for the performing arts in their community.

After Raymond's death, Babette gathered his notes, unfinished writing, poetry, interviews, and photography, determined to preserve the story he had begun about generations of his family in western New Jersey. Fifteen years later, she returned to the manuscript with fresh perspective, dedicating herself to reshaping it into the novel she believed it was always meant to become.

Earthbound is the result of that journey—a contemporary novel that explores family, identity, memory, and the enduring influence of the past. It invites readers to consider not only where we come from, but why our history continues to shape who we are.