The first of James Herriot's brilliantly funny memoirs about life as a Yorkshire vet.To young James Herriot, fresh out of veterinary college, Yorkshire appears to offer an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world. But even life in the sleepy village of Darrowby has its challenges: from his new colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, to herds of semi-feral cattle and gruff farmers with incomprehensible accents.Heart-breaking and hilarious in equal measure, If Only They Could Talk is the first volume of classic memoirs which chronicle James Herriot's first years as country vet in the 1930's.With an afterword by Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen of opinions and comments from a host of the famous and the less famous.