If Only They Could Talk / It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (All Creatures Great and Small #1-2)

the long version

Fresh out of Glasgow Veterinary College, to the young James Herriot 1930s Yorkshire seems to offer an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world. But from his erratic new colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, to incomprehensible farmers, herds of semi-feral cattle, a pig called Nugent and an overweight Pekingese called Tricki Woo, James finds he is on a learning curve as steep as the hills around him. And when he meets Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, all the training and experience in the world can't help him. Heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure, this is a book for all those who find laughter and joy in animals, and who know and understand the magic and beauty of Britain’s wild places. (These 2 UK titles were combined into a single volume in the US and called simply, "All Creatures Great and Small".)