Reviewing a book by the wonderful Julian Norton, one of the Yorkshire Vets, is tricky. Why? Because I find them ALL much like a jam do-nut, one  with a dollop of clotted cream on top and perhaps ice cream at the side – I devour them, and want more. 

And therein lies the problem, – there is nothing to be picky about with All Creatures, nothing to criticise. Readers will just have to bask and enjoy – transported to a wholesome calm world. One not without its tensions because of course, these animals have come to a vet, or he to them, for a particular reason so the reader absorbs the drama and excitement, and invest in it, hoping for the best, and invariably getting it as  Julian   brings home the bacon. Ooops, perhaps I should say, Julian works his veterinary  magic and makes his patients, and our day feel  feel better.

Wholesome, calm, with a sense of the man’s humour and humanity shining through. All Creatures is   celebration of different creatures – great and small – that this Yorkshire vet has come to know and love.

We can of course, picture the glorious Yorkshire Dales, and Julian Norton from his role in Channel 5’s series The Yorkshire Vet, we can hear his voice, and that chuckle, or more of a giggle. We want him as our vet – but then, living in Thirsk, he is our vet at Thirsk Veterinary  Centre she says gleefully.

I think the most beguiling thing about Julian Norton’s books, and indeed Peter Wright’s too, is their love of their profession, their understanding of their animal patients and their commitment to them, but more, it is their love of North Yorkshire, its breathtaking beauty, the air that is so clear the colours have a vibrancy lacking elsewhere.

All Creatures is a song of North Yorkshire, of the hardiness of the dales and the people, the stoicism, and let’s not forget the peculiarities, of the animals dogs, cows or sheep, (and in our case it would be that of  their owners) and the love  underlying it all.

All Creatures by Julian Norton is available in all good bookshops, and from

White Rose Bookcafe here: White Rose Books Thirsk, where you can shop online from their website.

 Amazon , in HB, PB, eBook and Audiobook.