James Herriot Compendium

Information

By James Herriot

Published by Octopus Books, 1985

Hardback with dustwrapper, 150mm x 230mm x 50mm

This volume contains six of the delightful books which established James Herriot as one of the world's foremost and wittiest writers about animals.

The wild unspoiled beauty of the Yorkshire Dales provides the background to his vivid evocation of the ups and downs of a 1930s veterinary practice. At an time of day or night, through fair weather or foul, his calls can take him to tend an infinite variety of animals. With engaging warmth, humour and modesty James Herriot describes his development from raw recruit to respected friend and partner of his boss and mentor, Siegfried Farnon. His gift for lively narrative and comic description makes for acute and witty observations of human as well as animal behaviour.

He introduces us to such memorable characters as the spoilt Pekinese Tricki Woo, and Gertrude, the beerswilling pig and reveals all the daily hilarity and frustration of his daily encounters with the local people, whose courage and fortitude he so obviously admires. His fascinating medical knowledge , his infectious enthusiasm and love for both his patients and their owners, bring the rural world of North Yorkshire memorably to life.