Orleans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carre [Hardcover]

TJ Fisher (Author), Roy F. Guste Jr. (Author), Louis Sahuc (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2007

100% of publisher profits will be donated to French Quarter preservation groups

 

Revisit the timeless mystery, magic, and majesty of the French Quarter and its legendary gardens with this lush collection of photographs. An emotional narrative about the heart and soul of New Orleans and the city’s ability to triumph over sorrow accompanies hundreds of pictures taken before and after the life- and landscape-altering Hurricane Katrina; a special section presents the classic work The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré, which offers mesmerizing images of the verdant gardens concealed behind brick walls and iron gates in the Quarter. The importance of fundraising for and conscientious rebuilding of New Orleans is stressed throughout the book, making this a gorgeous book—with a purpose.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Lavishly designed and sumptuously illustrated, Orleans Embrace celebrates what makes New Orleans' French Quarter unique and significant. In a long, meandering introduction, Fisher addresses Hurricane Katrina but mostly writes about the history of the quarter and the spirit of those who live there. "No great American city should be left lying spread out as a mutilated carcass with bits of people's lives strewn clear across the horizon," she writes, then recounts all that the quarter has given to America over the centuries. The central section presents Guste's out-of-print classic, The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carre (1993), in which Guste provides beautiful photographs and capsule backstories for 20 historic gardens. In the book's final section, Fisher tackles Katrina head-on to the accompaniment of photographs by native Louis Sahuc, lamenting damage to the city of "magical thinking." She declares, "We can decide to buck cruel contretemps or lie down and surrender." Unusual, gorgeous, and intriguing. One hundred percent of the publisher's profits go to French Quarter preservation. Colleen Mondor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Benjamin Franklin Awards double winner 2007 for Best New Voice Nonfiction ("An emotional portrayal of and poignant narrative on New Orleans and the French Quarter") and Best First Book Nonfiction. A finalist in 3 more categories

Nautilus Book Awards Finalist 2007

"A compendium . . . passionate reflection . . . love letter to this seductive place with its distinctive history, character, and architectural style."  —San Francisco Chronicle

"No medium alone, or paired with another, could possibly capture the elusive essence of the place author TJ Fisher calls 'a bewitching oasis of culture and civilization sculpted from a hostile swamp.'"  —Philadelphia Inquirer

"Amazing, lushly produced inside look at the mysteries of the French Quarter through the eyes and lenses of local aristocrats' cornucopia of stories."  —Andrei Codrescu, "Penny Post" column, Gambit & Downtown Express

"An enchanting peek inside the elusively secret and mysterious parts of the indomitable French Quarter. This is the real Vieux Carré rarely glimpsed by outsiders."  —Francis Ford Coppola

"What a visual palette. Wow! This is truly the New Orleans I love."  —Emeril Lagasse

"A feast for those who prize the city's timeless charms."   —Tom Piazza, author, My Cold War

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 388 pages
• Publisher: Morgana Press (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977351475
• ISBN-13: 978-0977351473
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 10.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,126,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Louisiana

More About the Author

TJ FISHER is a Southern author, documentarist and social critic who resides on storied Bourbon Street. Notably "outrageous and eccentric," Fisher drives a 1959 pink Cadillac convertible named Lulabell and shares her home with American icon Howdy Doody (Photo Doody), one of the three original 1940s marionettes. Her multi-award-winning work "Orleans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré" won the PMA Benjamin Franklin Awards 2007 for "The Best New Voice Nonfiction" and "The Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book Nonfiction." Fisher's second title "Hearsay from Heaven and Hades: New Orleans Secrets of Sinners and Saints" garnered national and Deep South poetry-award honors. "Vieux Carré Chic: The Art of Overindulgent Home Décor" is Fisher's forthcoming coffee-table book of maximalist design-style. A self-anointed swamp empress and sandcastle queen, she holds a general contractor license and renovates historic properties. Fisher's not-yet-published sweeping memoir-novel series "The Pearly Gates of Purgatory" is expected to become a literary sensation and TV miniseries or film trilogy. She is a longtime member of Writers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America, Producers Guild of America, Dramatists Guild, Academy of Television and Arts and Sciences, Screen Actors Guild and Actors' Equity Association. Fisher has three children, Colonel Dudley Boudreaux Waddlesworth (Coton de Tulear), Madame Calliope de Bourbon (Goldendoodle) and Karuki (one-eyed former alley cat). No stranger to the public eye, strange curiosities and controversies, Fisher divides her time between two famed towns, the French Quarter and Palm Beach, Florida. Learn more about flamboyant, quirky, outspoken, opinionated and all-original author TJ Fisher at TJFISHER.COM, TJFISHER.NET and Facebook!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nicely Done for an Important Cause, March 22, 2007

By 

Timothy R. Smith (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Orleans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carre (Hardcover)

Though finely printed with many photographs, I am certain this book was never meant to merely decorate the coffee table. It opens with glowing praises of notables and celebrities like Francis Ford Coppola, Nicholas Cage, Jimmy Buffett, and many others. As 100% of the publisher's profits go to preservation of the French Quarter, that is also worthy of considerable praise, for surely New Orleans is America's greatest city, and the Vieux Carré its most precious jewel.

Actually three essays in one volume, the book covers New Orleans history, the French Quarter gardens, and saving New Orleans in its current post-Katrina period. The writing is uniformly verdant and lush, with descriptions often poetic if not philosophical. However, this is quite a visual book, with a great many photographs included. It's perhaps my own sense of artistry, but I find some of the photographs a bit on the dark side and of somewhat low contrast. New Orleans is not known for its many clear sunny days, and the high walls surrounding many of the gardens reduce the available light, but the gardens usually aren't quite so gloomy and shadowy as some of the photographs might suggest. I don't know the cameras used for this volume, but some of the images also seem to lack the "snap" that would typically come from a large format camera, usually the camera of choice for this kind of work. If a 4x5 or larger was indeed used, then I really can't explain it. But that's not to say there aren't many gorgeous photographs here, and others may find my criticism far too influenced by my personal sense of style, and they are probably right. I particularly like the photographs of the pool and the spacious courtyard of the Begue home on Bourbon Street, and there are many, many others to enjoy here.

All in all, a fine volume, especially on the gardens, historical preservation, and salvaging the city after Katrina. If one is looking for more on actual building architecture and how it arrived there, by all means try Lloyd Vogt's "Historical Buildings of the French Quarter," which is entertaining in its own right, yet in an entirely different and most original way.

For a poetic and photographic tour, "Orléans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré" is warmly recommended. But it really shouldn't be left on the coffee table without first reading it from start to finish.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Special Book to Treasure, April 22, 2007

By 

B. Alton "lotsoreading" (New England, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orleans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carre (Hardcover)

WOW...what a big beautiful book! For anyone who has a connection to New Orleans...buy it...give it...treasure it...well written, throughly researched, amazing photos and layout...sure to be an award winner! Thanks for putting your heart into this volume!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will prove to be of immense interest, May 7, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orleans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carre (Hardcover)

No ordinary coffee table photography book, "Orleans Embrace With The Secret Gardens Of The Vieux Carre" is a 388-page memoir of the New Orleans French Quarter featuring 49 historic black-and-white photographs and 320 full color illustrations. While the overall book draws from the previous work of Roy F. Guste, Jr., the photographs by Louis Sahuc are bonded with a personal and compelling narrative text by T. J. Fisher. Readers will encounter a work originally intended to be of local interest, but in a post-Katrina world, has emerged with universal attraction as a memorial and a motivation to restore a once great American city to its unique and original glory. Enthusiastically recommended, "Orleans Embrace With The Secret Gardens Of The Vieux Carre" will prove to be of immense interest to several categories of readership including: gardening enthusiasts, historians, architects, photographers, and anyone who has every walked along the avenues and admired the parks, gardens, and buildings of the New Orleans French Quarter.