The first two books in James Herriot's classic series detailing life as a 1930s country vet. James Herriot's stories about his life as a vet in Yorkshire have charmed and delighted millions of readers in the twenty years since his first book If Only They Could Talk was published in 1972. All Creatures Great and Small is the first James Herriot omnibus and contains If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet together with James and Helen's courtship from Let Sleeping Vets Lie .