James Herriot on the Backlist

August 14, 2012

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." ~ James Herriot

James Alfred Wight, penname James Herriot, lived in interesting times. He began his forty year veterinary practice in Yorkshire England in 1940, just a few months before the country was engulfed in WWII and during an era of rapid change in medicine. Agriculture was moving from draught horses to tractors, and medical science was just on the cusp of discovering antibiotics and other drugs that would brush aside folk remedies that’d been used for centuries by farmers and country vets.

In his autobiographical series, All Creatures Great and Small, Wight brings to life the sights, sounds, and often, smells of the remote, English farm country he loved. His books are a series of loosely chronological animal tales, both the two and four legged variety, told with warmth, humor, and deep insight.

If it’s been a while since you read this wonderful, feel-good series, pick them up again. If you’ve missed them so far, follow this link to All Creatures Great and Small and give yourself a treat.

Laura M.
Kearney Branch