James Herriot is probably the most beloved living (at this writing) writer. When All Things Bright and Beautiful was published three years previously (to this book), it became the number one best seller in the world, winning still new friends for the Yorkshire veterinarian whose first book All Creatures Great and Small had already been enjoyed by millions of readers.

In this, his third book, he takes up where he left off-- both in terms of the warmth, humor, and skill with which he writes, and in the story itself. It is World War Two and James has just been inducted into the RAF. We see him at training camp and we go back to Yorkshire-- on real trips as he breaks away to see Helen who is about to have a baby, and on trips of reverie as he recalls the Dales, the animals, and the Yorkshire people who have so enriched his life.

We meet old friends again-- his partner Siegfried, the zany Tristan, the bon vivant Granville Bennett-- and scores of new folk, each with a story to tell. James Herriot is back, and, as one reviewer said of his work, "If ever you have loved a friend, human or otherwise, this is the book for you."