James Herriot Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of All Creatures Great and Small Books
If Only They Could Talk | (1970) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
All Creatures Great and Small | (1972) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet | (1972) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Let Sleeping Vets Lie | (1973) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Vet in Harness | (1974) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
All Things Bright and Beautiful | (1974) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Vets Might Fly | (1976) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
All Things Wise and Wonderful | (1976) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Lord God Made Them All | (1981) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Vet in a Spin | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Smudge Books
Smudge, The Little Lost Lamb | (1991) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Smudge's Day Out | (1991) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
The Best of James Herriot | (1983) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Horse & Pony Stories | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Wonderful World of James Herriot: A Charming Collection of Classic Stories | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Picture Books
Bonny's Big Day | (1972) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Moses the Kitten | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Only One Woof | (1985) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Christmas Day Kitten | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Blossom Comes Home | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Market Square Dog | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Oscar, Cat-About-Town | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Animals at Diamond Woods | (2009) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
Animal Stories, Tame & Wild | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Yorkshire | (1979) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
All Creatures Great and Small Annual 1982 | (1981) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Dog Stories | (1986) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Greatest Cat Stories | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot Story Book | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Every Living Thing | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Treasury for Children | (1992) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Cat Stories | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Seven Yorkshire tales | (1995) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Yorkshire Stories | (1995) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Yorkshire Village | (1995) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Animal Stories | (1997) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Yorkshire Stories | (1998) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
James Herriot's Yorkshire Revisited | (1999) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Anthologies
Biography
Born in Sunderland, County Durham, James Herriot was the son of James and Hannah Bell Wight. While James took work as a ship plater, he also indulged his passion of the piano, his wife earning a small income as a dress maker, on top of her singing.
Attending Yoker primary school and Hillhead High School, Herriot gained a passion for football at an early age, becoming a lifetime supporter of the Sunderland Football club. He entered the veterinary filed at the age of 23, having received his qualifications from Glasgow veterinary college in 1939.
Initially practicing in Sunderland, James Herriot eventually moved to a rural area in the town of Thirsk, and there he stayed for the remainder of his life. James Herriot married Joan Catherine Anderson Danbury in 1941.
They had two children; James Alexander not only entered the veterinarian business but also joined his father as a partner in his practice, while Rosemary became a general practice physician. James Herriot briefly served in the military and eventually attested, even then, to have held a passion for writing, a dream than never came to fruition because so much of his time was consumed by his family and business.
It was his wife, Joan, who finally pushed him to pursue his dream; despite his enthusiasm, Herriot’s initial attempts at writing were met with rejection and often revolved around football. It wasn’t until he turned his eye towards what he knew best, animals, that James Herriot began to experience success.
It was after he observed the potential for success that his first novel ‘If only they could talk’ presented that James decided to drop the name Wight in favor of his pen name ‘James Herriot’, this resulting from common etiquette at the time which frowned upon the concept of professionals in most businesses advertising their services. James Herriot was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991 and died four years later; Joan, his wife, also died in 1999.
Writing Career
Many of James Herriot’s books are partially autobiographical and will tell stories that loosely incorporate events, people and places connected to his own life, many times in a personal manner. The books, in many ways, chronicle the shift the veterinary industry underwent during James’ years in his practice, taking into account the role transitions in agriculture as well as various social factors might have played in the process, this including the fact that many a veterinary practice slowly but steadily shifted their primary focus away from large beasts of burden to smaller creatures like dogs and cats.
While his books are largely referred to as animal stories, the creatures in James Herriot’s novels often play a fairly negligible role, with the plots primarily revolving around the people of Yorkshire country and their lives. The unique flavor present in Herriot’s work often emanates from the emphasis he places upon the relationships between animals and their owner, with the author known for making shrewd and quirky observations about this human/animal dynamic.
James Herriot’s books were adapted into a movie titled ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ in 1975, as well as a long running series of the same name which aired on BBC Television. The BBC also developed a three part drama in 2010 titled ‘Young James Herriot’ which utilized case notes and diaries to tell the story of the author. Herriot’s home of Thirsk has benefited greatly from his popularity, with the ‘World of James Herriot’ Museum attracting many a curious fan.
If Only They Could Talk
James Herriot arrives in the small village of Darrowby, unaware of the adventures that await him or the new friends that lie ahead. ‘If Only They Could Talk’ is a memoir narrating James Herriot’s first few years as a vet; operating in the country, ‘If Only They Could Talk’ manifests James Wight’s unique storytelling magic, the novel providing several hours of fun and joy to those persons that enjoy the company of animals and wish to explore the wild places of the country side.
‘If Only they could talk’ is an elegantly written novel that is often forgotten by today’s readers; there is never a dull moment within its pages. The characters are eccentric and the narrative couldn’t be any more humorous. Many natives of the region within which the novel is set have often complimented James’ first book for the sense of homeliness it creates
It shouldn’t happen to a Vet
The title aptly describes the spirit of James Herriot’s the second novel, which finds the author’s primary character, at one point, sitting on a high Yorkshire Moor and oddly scented like a cow. ‘It shouldn’t happen to a Vet’ continues to tell many more stories about Herriot’s complicated life, roping his boss Siegfried Farnon and the unpredictability that is his personality into the chaos, along with Tristan, his charming brother, complimented by Herriot’s fated encounter with the beautiful Helen.
Once more the beauty of the countryside shines through in this warm tale that is as charming as it is wise. ‘It shouldn’t happen to a vet’, like all of James Herriot’s works, is one novel that shouldn’t be rushed. James Herriot doesn’t write fast paced page turners filled with thrilling tales; rather it is those readers that enjoy the quite simplicity of a good book that Herriot writes for, his second novel simply happy to crawl down its own path, rarely in a hurry to arrive at its destination but making every portion of the journey a true delight.
James’ anecdotes about the life of a vet in the country illustrate a love for the quite life; they reveal wisdom and wit even while never failing to entertain. ‘It shouldn’t happen to a vet’ has no particular target group. It is the sort of novel that readers both young and old, men and women, are going to enjoy, whether they love animals and the countryside or not.
Indeed many older readers have admitted to enjoying James Herriot’s works during their teenage years, the same novels they continue to visit today and whose entertainment value has not dimmed even with the passing of time,
Book Series In Order » Authors »
All of James Herriot’s books are a timeless joy to savor.
Marika Neuhardt