Reviews of To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin

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February 1886

THE SAND ON THE Champ de Mars was powdered with snow. A huge blue-and-white-striped hot-air balloon swooned on its ropes in front of the École Militaire, the gondola tethered to a small wooden platform strung out with grubby yellow bunting. Three figures, two women and a man, hurried from a hired landau on the avenue de Suffren across the parade ground toward the balloon.

"Attendez," called out Caitriona Wallace. "Nous arrivons!"

As she paused on the steps to wait for the other two, Cait's vision spun with tiny points of light in a darkening fog. She had laced tight that morning, pulling until the eyeholes in her corset almost met, and now her chest rose and fell in shallow gasps as she tried to catch her breath—in, out, in and out.

"We made it," said Jamie Arrol as he reached her. "That was a close thing."

"Here are the tickets," she told him. "You get on board. Your sister is just coming."

In the wicker gondola twenty people waited impatiently, the men in bell...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Discuss the novel's epigraph, by Gustave Eiffel: "Before they meet at such an impressive height, the uprights appear to spring out of the ground, molded in a way by the action of the wind itself." What sort of tone does the epigraph establish? How does it resonate with the novel that follows?
2. Caitriona is very much a woman constrained—by her status as a widow, by her poverty and her fall from high society, even by the clothes she wears. In our introduction to her, on the novel's first page, Beatrice Colin writes, "She had laced tight that morning, pulling until the eye holes in her corset almost met, and now her chest rose and fell in shallow gasps as she tried to catch her breath—in, out, in and out." Were you therefore ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide may contain spoilers!

Here are some of the comments posted about To Capture What We Cannot Keep.
You can see the full discussion here.


Caitriona is very much a woman constrained—by her status as a widow, by her poverty and her fall from high society, even by the clothes she wears. Were you therefore surprised by how her story turned out?
I was not surprised. She was a strong self sufficient person. She never felt fully comfortable in any of her prior roles. She had limited her choices and gained her freedom by rejecting the proposal.the possibility of a future restored relationship ... - henryw

Discuss the important role the Parisian art world plays in the novel. Were you surprised at the contemporary reactions to now-beloved Impressionist painters? How does the aesthetic of the Eiffel Tower fit in (or clash) with Impressionism?
The negative opinions of the tower and the Impressionists show that it can take a long time for people to appreciate something that is new and different - normar

Discuss the novel's epigraph, by Gustave Eiffel. What sort of tone does it establish? How does it resonate with the novel that follows?
Much like the tower is molded by "the action of the wind," the characters are molded by the rules and restrictions of their places in a rigid societal structure. - sandrah

Discuss the portrayal of class in To Capture What We Cannot Keep. How is class tied to material wealth, education, social status, and family? How do the classes mix in the novel, and what is the fallout?
I thought the idea of class was done well in the book. But you could sense this shift in the class structure in Paris. What influence did art and the Impressionist movement play in this? It seemed to make more things possible for men of course, but ... - linz

Do you find Gabrielle likable or sympathetic? Did your opinion of her change as the novel progressed? What of the characters in general?
I didn’t like her. Too manipulative and selfish. I tried to have empathy for her but it was very hard to. - lindas