The Wonderful World of James Herriot A charming collection of classic stories by James Herriot

A celebration of James Herriot and his world, with favourite stories from his books and insights into his life and work.

James Herriot's books follow the adventures of a young veterinary surgeon in the Yorkshire Dales from the 1930s to the 1950s. With extracts from all eight books, this anthology captures the warmth and humour of the brilliantly told memoirs. Compiled and introduced by Herriot's son and daughter, Jim and Rosie, each chapter provides a background to the real people and places that inspired the stories.

The anthology features Herriot's most memorable encounters with animals and their owners, from calving cows (stripped to the waist and shoulder-deep), horse castrations and lambing season to a vicious cat named Boris, Prudence the Pig and Mrs Pumphrey's Tricki Woo and his 'flop-bott'. The extracts convey Herriot's vivid descriptions of the Yorkshire Dales and of rural communities on the cusp of change, before tractors and machines have taken over and modern medicine and antibiotics transformed veterinary work. They also feature James Herriot's hapless courtship with Helen Alderson and their eventual marriage and family life in the sleepy village of Darrowby.

James Herriot (1916-1995) was the pen name of James Alfred 'Alf' Wight, whose tales of veterinary practice and country life in the Yorkshire Dales have delighted generations. Many of Herriot's works - including All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Wise and Wonderful, The Lord God Made Them All, and Every Living Thing - became international bestsellers and have been adapted for film and television.

Rosie Page and Jim Wight are Herriot's children. Rosie became a doctor and Jim was a vet.