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

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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. He portrays them as hardworking, down-to-earth, and deeply connected to the land and the animals they care for.

And even more entertaining is Siegfried’s younger brother Tristan, a fun-loving veterinary student who waltzes in and out of the house and the books, adding more hilarity. After an evening among his tales, anyone with as much as a dog or a budgerigar will feel he should move to Darrowby at once. 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. i have enjoyed reading and re-reading this series for several years and there is just nothing like it. His compassion, love, and sense of humor are obvious in his writings, both towards his patients as well as their owners.Not for their ignorance; i too am unaware of the overall plots of many famous works, but rather my own inability to describe something great. The antics of 24 year-old Glaswegian James Herriot, getting used to the ropes as a veterinary assistant in 1930s Yorkshire. Here is a book for all those who find laughter and joy in animals, and who know and understand the magic of wild places and beautiful countryside.

James went about his work each day doing what he loved and hoped in time that those who weren't too sure about him would come around and see what a great job he was performing. Tapi yang tak pernah membosankan adalah komitmen Herriot untuk setiap saat membantu makhluk hidup yang menderita, biarpun kadang ia harus melampiaskan kekesalan dan kemarahan; dan selalu diakhiri oleh kembalinya kesadaran bahwa hidup itu ajaib, lucu, agung, dan tak pernah membosankan. 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".Equal importance is given to the farmers, their crusty exterior hiding some of the most generous and wonderful people one could meet. It's Herriot's writing that delights me, after all, not whether or not these things actually happened exactly as he sets them down. I read these works by James Herriot for the first time almost twenty years ago, and I’ve reread them countless times since then. Many of the stories are only loosely based on real events or people, and thus can be considered primarily fiction. Because All Creatures Great and Small, probably his best-known and best-loved book, was originally published in part as If Only They Could Talk.

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. I have watched the lovely BBC series (the remake) of this and it is super heartwarming, funny, and cozy, so my partner and I decided to do a read aloud of the first of the books.

That man in the picture had just finished an excellent lunch and had moved next door to do a bit of calving just for the sheer pleasure of it, as a kind of dessert. James Herriot takes you right into the lives and hearts of the people he knew and makes you feel as if you know them too. Pumphrey and her precious Tricki Woo, the selection of laconic farmers with their cows, and (of course) the irrepressible Farnon brothers with whom Herriot practices.