And most important, he had his magical hypodermic syringe.
There were no metal crushes to catch and hold the big, struggling beasts, none of the sedatives and tranquillers which are taken for granted now.īefore the present army of salesmen overran the farms, the vet used to be one of the few visitors from the outside world and an interesting one, for he still had hanging around him a faint miasma of witchcraft born of his knowledge of strange lore, secret cures. Large animal practice is a rough job but it was rougher still when James Herriot started. One amusing episode follows another but never dull relationship between Siegfried Vernon and his brother Tristan, a college student with a refreshingly dilettante approach to veterinary work. With great affection, and an earthly humour worthy of COLD COMFORT FARM, he gives us an insight into the country vet's year and describes the changing seasons with as much skill and variety as he uses to introduce us to the uncommunicative but warm-hearted Yorkshire farmers and their wives. Herriot takes us back to a world which in many ways seems almost unbelievably primitive and yet down to earth and warmly human. This was before the time of antibiotics and many other modern drugs now widely used to treat sick animals and Mr. Siegfried Vernon M.R.C.V.S., who turned out to be not half as daunting as his name implied. Fresh from college, he took a job in a large rural farming area in Yorkshire as assistant to Mr. James Herriot's books were televised in the enormously popular series All Creatures Great and Small.James Herriot tells in his book the story of his first year in veterinary practice. Heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure, If Only They Could Talk is a book for all those who find laughter and joy in animals, and who know and understand the magic and beauty of Britain's wild places.
On the other he must contend with herds of semi-feral cattle, gruff farmers with incomprehensible accents and an overweight Pekingese called Tricki Woo. On the one hand there are his new colleagues, Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, two brothers who attract a constant stream of local girls to whom James is strangely invisible.
But even life in the sleepy village of Darrowby has its challenges. To a Glaswegian like James, 1930s Yorkshire appears to offer an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world. 'I grew up reading James Herriot's book and I'm delighted that thirty years on they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then.' - Kate Humbleįresh out of Veterinary College, and shoulder-deep in an uncooperative cow, James Herriot's first job is not panning out exactly as expected.
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