He was relaxed and smiling, the farmer and his helpers were smiling, even the cow was smiling. 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. “My mind went back to that picture in the obstetrics book. In the very first chapter we initially meet Herriot while he is performing a calving right in the middle of a winter night, drenched in sweat, blood, snow and mud, and wondering about the situation he is in when compared to the squeaky clean picture of a veterinary surgeon performing a calving that was provided in his obstetrics book while training. Herriot who was hoping for some tranquil life at the rural Darrowby, soon finds himself literally knee-deep in highly amusing adventures in which the farmers, animals and a bunch of other characters – like ‘Siegfried Farnon’ and his lazy brother ‘Tristan Farnon’ – adding to the merry. Farnon is portrayed by Herriot as a bombastic yet good-hearted character. He joins as an assistant to the eccentric ‘ Siegfried Farnon‘ – based on the actual veterinary surgeon ‘Donald Sinclair’ under whom James Wight originally practiced in Thirsk – the veterinarian in ‘Darrowby’. In the narrative he creates a fictional village called ‘ Darrowby’, based on the town of Thirsk and the surroundings rural areas, which act as the perfect setting for describing his amusing experiences about the early days of his veterinary career.
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. 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. His style of narration that describe his adventures with the animals and their owners, is of the most hilarious form that can make even the most serious of the reader burst out in a laugh. His reminiscences as a surgeon are pleasantly mild and warm to read. James Alfred Wight, the British veterinary surgeon and writer, is renowned for his semi-autobiographical works written under the name ‘ James Herriot‘, which chronicle some of the most amusing moments from his life as a veterinarian.
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