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

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James Herriot, a pseudonym for James Alfred Wight, grew up in Glasgow and qualified as a veterinary surgeon at Glasgow Veterinary College. 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. This has been a favourite of mine for nearly 35 years, so encountering it in another guise, I was more than happy to re-read it.

These wonderful tales with their morsels of emotions like elation, sorrow, and humiliation all flamboyantly honeyed with humor can delight both the general reader and lovers of animal stories. Seigfried’s eccentricities, his younger brother Tristan’s pranks, the animals, and the very interesting people who surround them: these make up the book.Fresh out of Veterinary College, and shoulder-deep in an uncooperative cow, James Herriot’s first job is not panning out exactly as expected .

A cow standing in the middle of a gleaming floor while a sleek veterinary surgeon in a spotless parturition overall inserted his arm to a polite distance. Ada kisah mengharukan saat Herriot harus memberikan penenang permanen kepada hewan yang terkena kanker untuk melepas penderitaannya. Owing in part to professional etiquette which at that time frowned on veterinary surgeons and other professionals from advertising their services, he took a pen name, choosing "James Herriot". If Only They Could Talk" is the first of a series of books that are essentially memoirs of Herriot's experiences as a young veterinarian in the Yorkshire Dales, beginning in the 1930s.

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. Many of Herriot’s works—including All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Wise and Wonderful, The Lord God Made Them All, and Every Living Thing—became international bestsellers and have been adapted for film and television.

Nothing on the masterpiece of words, the thought out plot, the detail that Orwell describes extensively, not even mentioning the main characters.

There is the wealthy Mrs Pumphrey and her pampered Pekingese, Tricki-Woo; there are farmers stolid and generous, mean and spiteful; there is the efficient and dutiful but imperious secretary Miss Harbottle.

Set in the late 1930s, dark times in many ways with the Second World War brewing, but greatly comforting in the humour and shared humanity shown. Set in the Yorkshire Dales, this is the first book in a series by rookie vet James Herriot and his new life in the countryside and among the animals and his struggle to win over the old Yorkshire farmers and eccentric characters he meets there. In an age of social uncertainties, when there seem to be no remedies for anything, Wight's stories of resolute grappling with mysterious bacterial foes or severe injuries have an almost heroic quality, giving the reader a sense of assurance, even hope.Apart from being incredibly entertaining, Herriot’s books also offer a historical perspective at the practice of veterinary science that was followed in Britain during the time period. Having loved and watched the original series on tv and then thoroughly enjoyed the recent new adaptation I thought I'd give it a go.