"You take a elevator down into the middle of the mountain, and from the minute I stepped out, I felt like this is a place I really want to set a book. There is something about realizing there is an entire world right underneath you - different animals, different rock, different landscape entirely that has been there the entire time, and you never knew about it that is extremely interesting."
"For one thing, there are some limits above ground of sort of what a woman is expected to do, what template you're supposed to fit. And so, yes, she is, I think, thrilled to realize there is a freedom below ground that she was unaware of, and she is someone who loves the unknown, someone who sees a 12-inch by 12-inch crack in the middle of a rock - a big, dark hole - and thinks, I should go in there and see what I find."
Ruby Falls is a novel set in 1932 Chattanooga, Tennessee, inspired by the real discovery of an underground waterfall by caver Leo Lambert, who named it after his wife Ruby. The story features an eclectic cast including a psychic, his wife, a manager, a Chicago reporter, and others who become trapped in the caves while searching for a hatpin. A murder occurs during their entrapment, creating tension around their escape. The protagonist Ada is drawn to the caves, finding freedom below ground that contrasts with societal expectations for women above ground. Ada's character embodies a love of exploration and the unknown, viewing the cave system as a world of discovery beneath the familiar surface.
#mystery-fiction #cave-exploration #1930s-historical-setting #female-protagonist #underground-adventure
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