Despite the freewheeling, out-in-the-open quality of New Orleans culture, with its proliferation of street music and open-air activity, there are some places in the city's renowned Vieux Carre that tease passersby with their unwillingness to be seen. They are the secluded gardens of the French Quarter, which lie behind wrought-iron gates, at the end of narrow alleys, over high walls; their reticence tempts every visitor to try to look inside.

Roy Guste, Jr., is something of a New Orleans celebrity: he is a member of the family that has owned the city's most famous restaurant, Antoine's, and for many years was its proprietor. He is the perfect host, then, for a tour of some of the city's hidden jewels. The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carre allows you to go behind the barriers and experience the French Quarter's beautiful gardens firsthand, getting a glimpse of true, elegant New Orleans lifestyle.

The book takes the reader on a tour of twenty of the most gorgeous gardens in the Vieux Carre, the city's oldest neighborhood. The climate of New Orleans is near-tropical, and so are its gardens: here, in photographs by the author and noted New Orleans photographer Glade Bilby, you will see fig trees, jasmine, gingers, Japanese plum trees, wisteria, and bougainvillea, set in gardens that give the appearance of laxity but, on closer inspection, reflect great attention to detail.

The French- and Spanish-style houses and courtyards are all poignant bits of history, and as he leads you through the gardens, Guste offers descriptions of both their aesthetic beauty and their documented past. The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carre' is the perfect book for anybody who wants to penetrate some of the most treasured and well-kept mysteries of this beautifully mysterious city.