To Capture What We Cannot Keep: A Novel

by Beatrice Colin

Overview

Set against the construction of the Eiffel Tower, this novel charts the relationship between a young Scottish widow and a French engineer who, despite constraints of class and wealth, fall in love.

In February 1887, Caitriona Wallace and Émile Nouguier meet in a hot air balloon, floating high above Paris, France—a moment of pure possibility. But back on firm ground, their vastly different social strata become clear. Cait is a widow who because of her precarious financial situation is forced to chaperone two wealthy Scottish charges. Émile is expected to take on the bourgeois stability of his family's business and choose a suitable wife. As the Eiffel Tower rises, a marvel of steel and air and light, the subject of extreme controversy and a symbol of the future, Cait and Émile must decide what their love is worth.

Seamlessly weaving historical detail and vivid invention, Beatrice Colin evokes the revolutionary time in which Cait and Émile live—one of corsets and secret trysts, duels and Bohemian independence, strict tradition and Impressionist experimentation. To Capture What We Cannot Keep, stylish, provocative, and shimmering, raises probing questions about a woman's place in that world, the overarching reach of class distinctions, and the sacrifices love requires of us all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250138774
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	10/31/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	709,430
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Beatrice Colin is a novelist based in Glasgow. The Glimmer Palace (2008), a novel set in Berlin in the early 20th century, was translated into eight languages, was a Richard and Judy pick, and was short-listed for several major awards. Colin also writes radio plays and adaptations for BBC Radio 4.

Editorial Reviews

It’s sexy escapism, but the book’s real selling point is its illumination of 19th-century Paris and that phenomenal landmark.”
—People Magazine (Book of the Week)

“Colin ably brings to life a time before the iron lattice of the Eiffel Tower became an iconic part of the Parisian landscape. To Capture What We Cannot Keep is part history lesson and part thrilling love story, leading to an ending full of depth, promise, and hope.”
—BookPage

“Transportive…You’ll instantly be wrapped up in this novel’s vibrant world.”
—Bustle

“To be in Paris to witness the construction of the Eiffel Tower is a magnificent occasion: to have a hand, however small, in its building, even better…This exquisitely written, shadowy historical novel will appeal to a wide variety of readers, including fans of the Belle Époque.”
—Library Journal (starred review)

“Colin has a sure hand with the atmospheres of both [Paris and Glasgow] and with the mores and dress of the period, and she manages to continually raise the stakes for her characters without ever resorting to melodrama. A novel of soaring ambitions, public and private.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Once I entered the world of Beatrice Colin's novel, To Capture What We Cannot Keep, I did not want to leave it! Set against the enticing backdrop of Parisian life in 1880's, as Monsieur Eiffel constructs his tower, this book is both daring in its historical scope, and rich in its intimacy. It is a must-read for every fan of Paris, for every fan of the fight for love against the odds, and for every fan of great and deeply satisfying storytelling.”
—David Gillham, New York Times bestselling author of City of Women

“To Capture What We Cannot Keep is reminiscent of the Paris it so beautifully, hauntingly brings to life: it's romantic, moving, and memorable. And while Beatrice Colin captures the excitement that surrounded the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the real lights of Paris are the women and men she created whose stories I avidly followed.”
—Chris Bohjalian, New York Times bestselling author of The Guest Room and The Light in Ruins

“A compelling story of love constricted by the demands of separate social classes. Told against the splendidly absorbing background of the building of the Eiffel Tower, it emerges as fresh and different. A captivating read.”
—Kate Alcott, New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker

From the Publisher

06/01/2016
Young widow Caitriona Wallace must make ends meet by chaperoning two young charges, while engineer Émile Nouguier is slated to take over the family business and find a wife who fits into the respectable bourgeoisie. When they meet in 1887, in a hot air balloon drifting above Belle Epoque Paris, they fall desperately in love. Their star-crossed relationship is told with the Eiffel Tower rising in the background. Colin's books include the award-winning The Glimmer Palace.

Library Journal

Polly Stone narrates this unlikely romance between an Eiffel Tower engineer and a Scottish widow who is chaperoning wealthy, young siblings on their European tour. Stone voices Emile Nouguier—who was actually one of the architects of the Eiffel Tower—with the sophistication and recklessness of a bohemian bachelor in the wild days of late-nineteenth-century Paris. Stone’s feminine tone and careful articulation capture Caitriona Wallace, who is well educated but lacks the social status to fit in Nouguier’s well-connected circles. The French characters are rendered with an appealing gentle inflection, but Stone completely misses the opportunity to shade Caitriona’s voice—there’s no hint of Scots burr—and the Scottish siblings sound like whiny American teenagers. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable production. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2017 - AudioFile