If Only They Could Talk: The Classic Memoir of a 1930s Vet

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I remember watching the TV series back in the 70's and 80's and picking this book up for the first time was like settling down by the fire with old friends. In ‘ If Only They Could Talk’, the first book in a series of his semi-autobiographies, the reader gets acquainted with a young James Herriot, just out of veterinary college, taking up a rural practice in the town of Thirsk, Yorkshire during late 1930s.

He portrays them as hardworking, down-to-earth, and deeply connected to the land and the animals they care for. Atasannya seorang dokter hewan Siegfried Farnon, yang cerdas namun eksentrik dan pelupa, dan hidupnya sering diwarnai dengan paradoks.There are hair-raising anecdotes of cures and medical conditions, of the dangers of being a country vet, and the triumphs too. It was a really hard world, before antibiotics and modern medicines, out in the freezing countryside at all hours, but he was content with that life, and that comes through his writing. An excerpt from: If Only They Could Talk narrated by the author James Herriot, better known to fans around the globe as ‘James Herriot’, the most famous vet in the world. Many of the stories are only loosely based on real events or people, and thus can be considered primarily fiction.

The stories were unexpectedly successful, and are still widely read as part of a collection titled “All Creatures Great and Small”.We begin by looking at James Herriot, a recently qualified vet struggling to make it in pre-WW2 England, where his trade is rather dwindling due to the invention of the tractor, and therefor, the downsizing of the work horse, and lack of household pets during a time when animals truly (and mostly) earned their keep. I found that I had had no idea as a child of the time period that he was writing in, and the changing face of farming life between the wars was interesting, as was the changing of medicine with the advent of antibiotics. Such a warm and cosy read too - in spite of the often harsh life being described (it was freezing up on the Yorkshire moors in winter). Because the previous book I read ('The Choice') was a bit on the heavy side emotional wise, I wanted a lighter read and found this first book in this series (6 books or even more followed) among my nature books on my bookshelves.