diff --git a/src/tmlt/core/__init__.py b/src/tmlt/core/__init__.py
index c38cee0..f4bdc18 100644
--- a/src/tmlt/core/__init__.py
+++ b/src/tmlt/core/__init__.py
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@
 import typeguard
 
 # This version file is populated during build -- do not commit it.
-from ._version import __version__
+try:
+    from ._version import __version__
+except ImportError:
+    from tmlt.core._version import __version__
 
 # By default, typeguard only checks the first element lists, but we want to
 # check the type of every list item.