Again, Herriot returns to the setting and characters of his earlier books, but there is a distinct difference in this last Yorkshire novel. Time has passed, and the little farming community is no longer quite as isolated from the modern way of life. The old pub where the farmers used to congregate has made room for an inn where the locals are uneasily rubbing shoulders with urban tourists, some of the farms are now mechanized with milking machines and other modem equipment, and television has created a link with the outside world. This has not only affected the lesser characters in the novel, the narrator himself seems to be somewhat reluctant to accept the inroads of modern life. Although new techniques and advances in veterinary medicine have made life easier for the veterinary practitioner, he, like many contemporaries, looks somewhat nostalgically back towards a somewhat idealized...