Review by Booklist Review
Fans of James Herriot will relish this affectionate biography of the gentle Yorkshire vet who charmed millions with his humorous and poignant tales of his life as a country veterinarian. Born James Alfred Wight and raised in a working-class Glasgow slum, he adopted the pen name of James Herriot when he authored his first book. After graduating from Glasgow Veterinary College in 1941, Alf was hired by Donald Sinclair to assist him in reviving his moribund veterinary practice in the picturesque yet primitive Yorkshire Dales. Subsequently, Donald Sinclair and his brother Brian served as the prototypes for the enormously popular characters of Siegfried and Tristan Famon featured in the Herriot books. Over 50 when he published his first book, Alf was amazed and unprepared for his rapid rise to fame and fortune. Though the author of a string of best-selling books that inspired the delightful television series All Creatures Great and Small, Alf remained a working vet. A must read for both Herriot admirers and animal lovers. --Margaret Flanagan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Herriot (1916-1995), who became a celebrity with his stories of life as a country vet, was born James Alfred (Alf) Wight, a Scotsman who grew up in poverty in Glasgow. A self-effacing man, he once remarked, "I make myself as colourless as possible." Because of this, and the fact that he fictionalized his life as well as his books, he remains a mystery even in this candid biography by a long-time friend. Since Wight never discussed his early years, Lord (Ghosts of King Solomon's Mines) fills in his background with descriptions of working-class life in Glasgow in the 1920s and '30s and of Wight's alma mater, Glasgow Veterinary College. To understand his professional and personal relationships, especially with his wife, Joan, and with Donald Sinclair, the owner of the Yorkshire veterinary clinic where Wight practiced for more than 50 years, Lord relies on the observations of Wight's friends and acquaintances. Wight comes across as likable but elusive, a thoroughly professional writer who persisted until, in middle age, he succeeded in getting published and then learned to tailor his books to the market. Photos. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Lord, former literary editor and books columnist of the Sunday Express in the United Kingdom, offers a warm, candid portrait of one of the most beloved authors in recent times. James Herriot, born Alf Wight (1916-95), was able to attend veterinary college despite a poor childhood in Scotland. In 1940, he joined a practice in Yorkshire where, though underpaid, he remained for his entire career. After years of receiving rejections from publishers, the unassuming veterinarian finally had a book published in 1970the autobiographical If Only They Could Talk (Book 1 of All Creatures Great and Small in the United States) under the name James Herriot. Herriot's gentle books on the life of a country vet were huge best sellers, largely because of Lord's early review, and later became films and a popular TV series. Lord's frequent musings on Herriot's embellishing details of his life for print weaken an otherwise strong narrativeafter all, Lord shows us that Herriot was modest and self-effacing in the extreme. An entertaining and poignant remembrance; highly recommended.Diane G. Premo, Rochester P.L., N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A well-tempered, well-researched biography of the world's most famous veterinarian, from novelist Lord (God and All His Angels, 1997, etc.). After buying over 50 million copies of his books chronicling the gentle meanderings of a country vet, readers may feel they have a pretty good handle on the life of Alf Wight, a.k.a. James Herriot. Not so, claims Wight's good friend Lord, whose 1972 review of It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet in London's Sunday Express pushed Herriot to the forefront. According to Lord, the books are pretty much one part fact to two parts creative writing. As he details the life of Wight, from his boyhood in Glasgow to his death of prostate cancer in 1995, Lord never suggests that the vet was anything other than modest, self-effacing, and kind, or that the Yorkshire dales that Wight so magically evoked--``the sparkling streams, the birds calling in the huge silences, the wide-open spaces''--were anything less than cozy in the extreme. But he does want to set the record as straight as possible, fussing with dates, calling into suspicion various war stories spun by Wight, and unmasking the true personalities of Siegfried, Helen, Tristan, et al., none of whom shines under Lord's scrutiny. The author has unearthed plenty of nuggets, such as Wight's nervous breakdown, brought on by depression stemming from brucellosis (transmitted by infected pregnant cows), and the debt Wight owed to an ex-hairdresser from Pinner, and he also does a good job analyzing the simple, direct style Wight brought to his homey material, both in his own critique and in interviews with Wight's publishers and editors. Lord is a bit too bedazzled by the wealth Wight amassed and seems obsessed with the vet's denying that he kept a diary when he obviously did, but otherwise he sticks to the facts, and his ocassional conjectures feel plausable. Doubtless this biography will be a feast for the Herriot hordes. (photos)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
