All Things Bright and Beautiful: The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World's Most Beloved Animal Doctor

Helen is Herriot’s wife. In the text’s narrative present, Helen and Herriot are living together in the rooms above Skeldale House. They have only recently married and are still settling into their domestic and marital life together. Throughout the memoir, Herriot repeatedly underscores how much he loves, appreciates, and is grateful for Helen. At times, he describes the extents Helen goes to in caring for him. He details her attentiveness to the laundry, housekeeping, cooking, and homemaking. He underscores her peaceful, patient nature, and how much she has changed his life. Sometimes, he compares his and Helen’s living space to his bachelor home—moments that convey how Helen has contributed to his Personal and Professional Growth. The passages from Chapter 39 where he describes their home life together capture this dynamic:

I realized I was reaping the benefit of her lifetime attitude to her father. Mild little man though he was, she had catered gladly to his every wish in the happy acceptance that the man of the house was number one; and the whole pattern was rubbing off on me now (311-12).

Although Herriot and Helen’s marital arrangement seems antiquated by contemporary standards, it is representative of marriages in the 1930s. This passage is meant to convey Herriot’s appreciation for Helen. He believes that her care for him is evidence of her respect for him, just as it was for her father. In turn, Herriot respects Helen’s efforts as they make him feel loved, stable, and capable.

Herriot’s flashbacks to his and Helen’s courtship also infuse his account with levity. An experience in the narrative present will remind Herriot of his life before marrying Helen and his ongoing efforts to date her. For example, his stories about the visit to her house where he accidentally kills her father’s cow, his encounter with Helen at the fair, and his attempts to dance with her at the Daffodil Ball invoke a humorous mood that also highlights his admiration for Helen. These anecdotes also convey Herriot’s humanity. While he may be a skilled veterinarian, he also has his shortcomings.

Helen helps Herriot to grow by being patient with him and teaching him about love. Herriot learns what it means to be in a loving, reciprocal relationship the longer he and Helen are together. Because she is so devoted to his comfort, Herriot is able to devote more time to his work, too. Helen also supports Herriot’s professional growth. Further, she is close with Herriot’s colleagues Siegfried Farnon and Tristan Farnon, and these relationships bridge Herriot’s personal and professional spheres.

Siegfried Farnon is Herriot’s employer. He owns and operates Skeldale House, which is the village’s veterinary surgery. He is in his thirties and a skilled veterinarian. Throughout the memoir, Herriot incorporates humorous stories about Siegfried into his account. For example, Siegfried will often get upset with Herriot for not caring for animals in an attentive way, for making hasty judgments of their patients’ conditions, for speaking too roughly with clients, for drinking on the job, or for leaving his tools around at various farms; however, these are all mistakes that Siegfried himself makes. Herriot isn’t presenting Siegfried as a hypocrite, but is rather exposing his humanity. Herriot learns a lot from Siegfried as a mentor, and he also sees him as a friend. Siegfried lets Herriot live above Skeldale House for free, and he also lends him money and invites him into the Darrowby community.

Herriot and Siegfried’s final interaction before Siegfried leaves to go to war conveys the deep nature of their bond. Herriot describes their parting with an emotional tone:

I gripped the hand for a moment then he turned and went into his room. And as I trailed dumbly up the next flight it seemed strange that we had never said goodbye. We didn’t know when, if ever, we would see each other again yet neither of us had said a word. I don’t know if Siegfried wanted to say anything but there was a lot trying to burst from me. I wanted to thank him for being a friend as well as a boss, for teaching me so much, for never letting me down (331).

The image of the men holding hands and then parting ways without saying goodbye captures their fear of losing one another. Herriot says that there is “a lot trying to burst from him” (331), which conveys his desire to express how much Siegfried means to him. He has been both a good employer and friend to Herriot. Their relationship has thus been expansive and allowed Herriot to grow as an individual and as a veterinarian.

Tristan Farnon is Siegfried’s younger brother and Herriot’s colleague. He also works at Skeldale House and is a veterinarian in the Yorkshire Dales. Where Siegfried is more no-nonsense and regimented, Tristan is more fun-loving. At the same time, Tristan is respectable and skilled. The farmers like him “during his sporadic visits as a student,” and when he is “on the job regularly the good reports [continue] coming in thick and fast” (347). Most notably, Tristan earns the reputation of being hardworking and determined. Herriot enjoys working with him and also appreciates his company and joking antics around Skeldale House. For instance, Tristan pretends to be a ghost and successfully pranks both Herriot and the entire Darrowby community. Tristan also ends up going off to the war around the same time as Herriot and Siegfried; saying goodbye to him marks the end of an era for Herriot.