Looking on the Bright Side: A Vet’s Tale
Author: Sue Devereux
Published: 2021
Available as paperback or Kindle edition
View now at amazon.co.uk
About the book
Written to raise money for Stars Appeal, the NHS charity for Salisbury District Hospital, where the author received life-saving breast cancer treatment, this book is a mixture of memorable stories from her time as a vet and a documentation of how it was to work and care for two teenagers while receiving a diagnosis and undergoing treatment.
Review
“I have learnt to appreciate the present rather than always planning the future”. This is the last sentence of the penultimate chapter of Sue’s book, a memoir of her career from a young vet through to building her own practice, being diagnosed with cancer, going through treatment and ultimately recovering. The stories she tells along the way are sometimes amusing, sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, but all the while she comes across both as a writer and as a person who has the right approach to life.
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All the profits from this book go to the Stars Appeal, the NHS charity for Salisbury District Hospital, which is reason enough to buy it in itself. But what is more I would thoroughly recommend it, for the insight into a vet’s life and how that has changed, into the challenges vets face, into the character needed to face them.
Sue rattles through the many stories and experiences with the same unfussy, get on with it approach she takes as a vet. The accessible chunks make for a good bedside book and while you could argue the connections between the stories – her own development – is a little sparse, in many ways it is quite refreshing in an age of too much information. Another writer might have extracted more drama from several of the recollections, not least the moment a German Shepherd almost alters the course of her life, but it is this matter of factness that draws out further admiration for the author, and is a trait we can recognise in so many who work in the equestrian industry. It’s a cracking book, for a horse lover or non horse aficionado, do buy it.
About the author
Sue Devereux qualified as a vet at Bristol University in 1983 and started her veterinary career in a mixed practice in Wimborne, Dorset. Subsequently she went on to establish her own practice treating horses with acupuncture and chiropractic when they did not respond to conventional veterinary treatment. She has written many veterinary features for Horse & Hound as well as the popular Veterinary Care of the Horse.
Verdict
I would thoroughly recommend it, whether you’re horsey or not – it’s a cracking read.
Sarah has worked at an equestrian journalist and editor since 2004 and has held the position of Horse & Hound Editor-in-Chief since 2014. She has reported for Horse & Hound from major championships including Europeans and World Equestrian Games. She has co-written books on horses and horse sport including The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horses & Ponies. She has owned and ridden horses since 1993, and worked for and trained with Olympic gold medallist event rider Leslie Law prior to going to university. While studying for a BSc at London School of Economics Sarah also worked for top British dressage rider Louise Spate.