Overview
Orléans Embrace (with) The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré is an incomparable pictorial work that shows off the best of old New Orleans (LA). It is a compendium of the gardens and architecture of the Vieux Carré, the historic French Quarter of New Orleans. Because of its hardcover and unusual size – 388 pages and 10.25 inches square - Orléans Embrace matches perceived descriptions of coffee table books.
However, Orléans Embrace is much more than a display book. Part Two, or the midsection of this book, contains The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré by Roy F. Guste, first published in 1993. The Gardens are sandwiched between two sections of photographs by Louis Sahuc Photoworks, with narrative by TJ Fisher. Section One of Orleans Embrace narrates and chronicles Preserving New Orleans, L Histore while Section Three illustrates Saving New Orleans, L Histore.
Keep this insightful book nearby on an easy-to-reach shelf or even on the coffee table for a quick pick-me-up. Do not attempt to read Orléans Embrace from cover to cover, but rather absorb the words and pictures little by little.
As an alternative to a preface, literary luminaries and celebrities such as Emeril Lagasse (food), Nicolas Cage (movies) and Jimmy Buffet (popular music) review and praise the book. It is interesting to learn what connections and affections tie these public figures to New Orleans.
Orléans Embrace (with) The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré is also a book with a purpose. Morgana Press, the Louisiana-based company that published the book, is donating 100% of the book's profits to the preservation of the Vieux Carré, the historic French Quarter of New Orleans.
The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré, the historic French quarter of New Orleans
Roy F. Guste Jr., a Vieux Carré resident, first published Secret Gardens in 1993. His garden photographs and descriptive words demonstrate familiarity with these gardens and a bond to what they represent. There are twenty gardens intelligently photographed and described. If one cannot visit the historic French quarter of New Orleans and its secret gardens, Guste's book is the next best thing.
Preserving New Orleans, L Histore and Saving New Orleans, L Histore
The photographs by Louis Sahuc Photoworks in these two sections are for the most part evocative of another time and place. Sahuc, a lifelong resident of New Orleans, uses every nuance of changing days and times to photograph his city. His familiarity with the city and relationship to its past, and nod to its emerging future, let readers see and appreciate the hidden grandeur of the city.
The narrative by TJ Fisher is at times emotional and evocative of an enchanted, almost mythological, place called Vieux Carré, the historic French Quarter of New Orleans. Fisher says, The dusky symphony that is the Vieux Carré overtakes us and we do not object. She assaults our senses, swirls our sentiments, affects our sight, and we feel it. We know the passage of time alters memories, yet here in the Vieux Carré memories alter the passage of time; those who have experienced this odd phenomenon know it to be true.
Most of the Vieux Carré missed destruction during Katrina, and Fisher writes many times of this survival. Fisher pleads with the world to help New Orleans, her people and what was lost with fundraising and conscientious rebuilding. She also compares remnants of the Vieux Carré with historic cities and buildings of the world. She asks us to help save this one tiny patch crammed with history and people. Fisher also describes some of the preservation measures previously undertaken and why she thinks these options are not enough for necessary actions.
- Orléans Embrace (with) The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré
- Morgana Press, Hardcover: 1st Edition, April 2007;
- ISBN: 0-9773514-7-5
©Text by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2007. Reproduction without permission prohibited.
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