New York – Little Atlas Hédonist | Rediscover the big apple

New York has always inspired and fascinates. With the book New York – little hedonist atlasthe author Muriel Françoise and the photographer Sylvie Li make us rediscover New York through her quarters, her emblematic buildings and her secret gardens, off the beaten track. We stroll through our parks, we meet its inhabitants and we even go to New York beaches. Interview with Muriel Françoise.

This book offers New York essentials and helps us understand the city.

The book is part of the collection “Les Petits Atlas Hédonistes”, which includes editions with destinations like Paris, London, Mexico City, Tokyo. In each chapter, we discover a district, and with the very beautiful photographs of Sylvie Li, we recall the essentials to visit in New York, the different museums, the emblematic buildings or the pearls of Art Deco. There is a theme To understand where we explain in particular architecture and Brownstonesthese red, pink or brown sandstone houses which are distinguished by their stairs of stone and high windows. We also offer strolls, thematic walks, and we also meet New Yorkers and artists.

With this book, you really make us rediscover New York, its different districts and small finds!

It is a book that allows us to go off the beaten track. We are going to discover less explored districts like the Bronx or Queens, where there is a very beautiful nature. Queens, who owes his name to the wife of King Charles II of England, Catherine de Bragance, is the largest in New York. There are many foreign cultures thanks to generations of emigrants and many artists. The residential area of Forest Hills recalls England, with its pretty cottages, and we discover in the distance the Atlantic Ocean with Rockaway Beach, whose magnificent wild beach is appreciated by the inhabitants and surfers. We don’t expect that in New York, it’s very authentic and surprising. We have a completely different New York! There is also Coney Island who is to be discovered. We go there by metro and we are charmed by the retro side and the seaside atmosphere.

New York is a city that is constantly transformed …

With each trip to New York, you are inspired by it and you feed on its energy and its daring side. There is in particular the High Line, a railroad that has become a suspended green space which offers an incredible point of view on the city, a real crush. This garden open to the public in 2009 and whose maintenance is partly provided by volunteers is very inspiring. In the middle of plants and flowers are works of art. And since 2023, the High Line has joined the new Hudson Yards district, where we discover the futuristic architecture of the Vessel imagined by Thomas Heatherwick. There is also the Little Island park, which has been set up in the Hudson with concrete pillars that serve as pots for lush vegetation.

And for those who love the series The Gilded Age, You offer a walk through its magnificent residences.

At the end of the 19th century^e Century, New York Haute Bourgeoisie built sumptuous residences and we can still visit some. There is the Plaza hotel, at 768 of the 5th^e Avenue, opposite Central Park, an 18 -storey building built in 1907 inspired by French Renaissance castles. There are also museums like the Neue Galerie, a Beaux-Arts style building designed on the model of the Place des Vosges in Paris by the Architects Carrère & Hastings, who also made the New York Public Library. There is also the Copper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, at the corner of the 5th^e Avenue and 91^e East street. This former mansion of 63 neo -gathered style rooms is spectacular.

The book appears at a time when we go less to the United States because of the trade war and the political climate.

Yes, it’s true … We have been working on this very timeless book for two years, and we finished it on elections, in November 2024. The book was launched in June and it was well received. We can read it and dream, since it is an iconic city, and we will continue to draw inspiration from everything that is done in New York, whether it is architecture, design, town planning. It makes us travel differently… through the photographs of Sylvie Li. We can completely appreciate the book and return to New York in a few years. In the meantime, we dream there by leafing through the pages.