This fall, all I have been doing is watching the Netflix series and reading the book it’s based on – All Creatures Great and Small. The book (and show) is perfect for this cozy season, and it ended with me falling in love with Yorkshire. I have already set our travel plans for next year – a road trip through the Yorkshire Dales and a visit to the author James Herriot’s house.
About the Book
In All Creatures Great and Small, we meet the young Herriot as he takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school.
Some visits are heart-wrenchingly difficult, such as one to an old man in the village whose very ill dog is his only friend and companion, some are lighthearted and fun, such as Herriot’s periodic visits to the overfed and pampered Pekinese Tricki Woo who throws parties and has his own stationery, and yet others are inspirational and enlightening, such as Herriot’s recollections of poor farmers who will scrape their meager earnings together to be able to get proper care for their working animals.
From seeing to his patients in the depths of winter on the remotest homesteads to dealing with uncooperative owners and critically ill animals, Herriot discovers the wondrous variety and never-ending challenges of veterinary practice as his humor, compassion, and love of the animal world shine forth.
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
This is one of those heartwarming books. Every moment I read was such a delight. Herriot has a very warm and wry sense of humor, and he’s surrounded by a wonderful supporting cast of characters – both animals and humans.
Herriot’s colleagues – the Farnon brothers are hilarious. They love each other and love to hate each other at the same time, and their frequent fights are a great source of hilarity. Another character is the housekeeper. She doesn’t play a significant role in the book, but her character is fleshed out in greater detail in the TV show. This is the only place where the show deviates from the book, apart from moving around some of the stories.
The book is not just funny, it’s an ode to warmth, good cheer, love, a simple life, a love for the countryside, fresh air, and above all, a love for nature and animals.
Yet what made him trail down that hillside every day in all weathers? Why had he filled the last years of those two old horses with peace and beauty? Why had he given them a final ease and comfort which he had withheld from himself? It could only be love.
While there is an overarching, larger storyline, the book mostly consists of short tales, very episodic in style. Most of them deal with some animal emergency or another, but the book overall has a lot more to offer than just animal anecdotes.
He has very good powers of observation (invaluable in a vet but equally good for an author). His stories beautifully capture human nature and the kind-hearted people of Yorkshire. I loved this observation from him on one of his customers.
You don’t find people like the Bramleys now; radio, television and the motorcar have carried the outside world into the most isolated places so that the simple people you used to meet on the lonely farms are rapidly becoming like people anywhere else.
I absolutely love this book and would recommend it to anyone, even to those who don’t think they enjoy animal stories. The stories are heart-warming and will stay with me for a long time to come.
