In February 1887, Caitriona Wallace and Emile Nouguier meet in a hot air balloon, floating high above Paris - 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. Emile 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 Emile must decide what their love is worth. Seamlessly weaving historical detail and vivid invention, Beatrice Colin evokes the revolutionary time in which Cait and Emile 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.

Author Biography

Beatrice Colin is a novelist based in Glasgow. The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite, a novel set in Berlin in the early twentieth century, was translated into eight languages and was a Richard and Judy pick. Beatrice has been shortlisted for a British Book Award, a Saltire Award and a Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award. She also writes radio plays and adaptations for BBC Radio 4.