To Capture What We Cannot Keep
This is a romantic love story against the richly described backgrounds of Paris and Glasgow in the late 19th century. Caitriona Wallace lost her husband when the Tay Bridge collapsed in 1879, and seven years later she is struggling to find her place in life as a still-young, but far from well-off, widow. Her answer is to take employment as a chaperone to Alice Arrol on a tour of Europe with Alice’s brother, Jamie. The trip culminates in Paris, where Cait and the Arrols have a chance meeting with Émile Nouguier, an engineer building the Eiffel Tower.
Cait and Émile’s attraction is immediate, but they are pulled in different directions and Cait returns to Glasgow. There she must weigh up an offer of a respectable but unappealing marriage, while Émile has responsibilities not only to Gustave Eiffel, but also his sick mother and a potentially vengeful discarded mistress. When circumstances combine to allow Cait and the Arrols to return to Paris, it seems that love might win through, but things only grow more complex as Alice, not Cait, is deemed a suitable partner for Émile. Alice, however, is much more drawn to a handsome, and perhaps not quite reputable, Count while her brother Jamie, although supposed to be working with Émile, prefers the gambling dens and brothels of the French capital.
Beatrice Colin has woven an atmospheric romance with convincing period detail and a fascinating insight into the construction of the Eiffel Tower. It is worth noting that although this is a work of fiction, Émile Nouguier was a real-life historical figure. He co-designed the Tower with Eiffel and was one of the original patent holders for its design.
