The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father

The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father
by James Wight

The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father
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Book Summary Information

Author: James Wight
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2001-05-01
ISBN: 0345434900
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Ballantine Books
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Book Reviews of The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father

Book Review: Good information in a poorly-written book.
Summary: 3 Stars

I was very excited to find this book at my local library, having first read all of the James Herriot books in my youth. As one might expect, this book is not of the same caliber as those written by the subject. Jim Wight is, by all accounts, a wonderful son and terrific veterinary surgeon (like his father), but he is not much of a writer. It was somewhat difficult to weave my way through the awkward sentences and writing style to get the information I wanted so badly to learn. When I finished, I felt somewhat as though I had boxed a few rounds. Nonetheless, I am glad I got this insight into the real world of the country vet whose stories I enjoyed so much once upon a time.

Summary of The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father

No one is better poised to write the biography of James Herriot than the son who worked alongside him in the Yorkshire veterinary practice when Herriot became an internationally bestselling author. Now, in this warm and poignant biography, Jim Wight ventures beyond his father's life as a veterinarian to reveal the man behind the stories--the private individual who refused to allow fame and wealth to interfere with his practice or his family. With access to all of his father's papers, correspondence, manuscripts, and photographs--and intimate recollections of the farmers, locals, and friends who populate the James Herriot books--only Jim Wight could write this definitive biography of the man who was not only his father but his best friend.
The name Alf Wight may not ring too many bells, but as James Herriot--the author who brought the British countryside into millions of homes--Wight certainly made an impressive mark. He grew up in Glasgow and enjoyed a boisterous childhood before deciding to embark on many years of training at the Glasgow Veterinary College. Wight finally qualified as a vet in 1939 and moved to the Yorkshire town of Thirsk to accept a position as assistant to Dr. Donald Sinclair--the man known to millions of readers as Siegfried Farnan.

The story of the young vet travelling to Thirsk (a.k.a. Darrowby) was immortalized in Herriot's bestselling books. But The Real James Herriot, Jim Wight's affectionate biography of his father, tells the story of the man behind the nom de plume, who worked in the same practice for over 50 years and was relatively untouched and unimpressed by his fame as an author. Wight the younger (who followed in his father's footsteps and later joined the practice in Thirsk), is undoubtedly the best person to reveal the depths of a man whose public persona was as respected and trusted as the real man who tended to animals in and around the small Yorkshire village where he lived until the day he died. Written with a tenderness that does nothing to detract from the honesty of the book, The Real James Herriot is a fitting, poignant, and often gently humorous portrait of a man who brought so much pleasure through his writing while remaining consistently faithful to the profession that was, ultimately, his first and last love. --Susan Harrison, Amazon.co.uk

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