Jonathan Hollins recounts his time as a vet in various British overseas territories, including the Falklands, St. Helena and Tristan da Cunha.

It's an entertaining and informative read, with several moments that made me chuckle.

I was also impressed with the resilience of the people that live in these quite remote places with very limited access. Tristan da Cunha is basically an active volcano but the islanders don't seem fazed at all.

Jonathan clearly loved his work and came across as personable and friendly.

The first story, about an aged tortoise that had apparently died (it hadn't) was the gateway to this memoir, which I am happy to recommend to anyone with an interest in the natural world and travel.

I received a free digital ARC of this book via Duckworth Books, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Absolutely touching and thought provoking, It takes a lot of strength to deal with the rewards and difficulties that come with being a vet. A recommended read.

Not only a story about being a vet but also a travel book, charting the author's experiences in some very remote places. Great descriptions of less-visited islands and some lovely people he met. Very enjoyable reading.

Although very interesting in it’s own right, with intriguing facts about some of the most hardy islanders on the planet, there was a tad too much Maritime focus on engineering and such , rather than the animal inhabitants.

No James Herriot I am afraid

In this delightful book, vet Jonathan Hollins shares his experiences working on the Falkland Island as well as St Helena and Tristan da Cunha that make up the British Overseas Territory. From the people, the landscape and the hardy animals he encountered, I think Jonathan Hollins did a great job sharing just how special and life changing his experiences were for him.

It's very hard to pick up a book about a vet and not compare it to the Holy Grail that is James Herriot. While this doesn't have quite the story telling mastery that Herriot has, and contains more general knowledge that is geographical and historical in nature than animal focused, I think the heart and soul of the people Hollins lived and worked with was captured in the pages of this book, much like Herriot did for the Yorkshire Dales.

I personally would have liked some less general knowledge in the book and more interesting and quirky animal stories as one of the main reasons I picked up the book was the veterinary aspect, not the travel destination. I also thought that the grimmer stories involving lambs with jelly skeletons and a mass killing of chickens and ducks for example could have been interspersed with more heartwarming stories as at one point I started wondering if Hollins even liked animals as he spent so much time killing them!

I enjoyed this for the most part, and it gave me an appreciation and a curiosity about St Helena but most particularly Tristan Da Cunha (which sounds like a haven to my introvert soul to be quite honest).

I have a significant interest in wilderness medicine and veterinary medicine. Oh, and the ocean and unconventional travel, having once spent four months on a ship circumnavigating the globe.

Vet at the End of the Earth is like the love-child of It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet and A Wilder Life: Journey of an Adventuring Doctor. A travelogue, a memoir, and an absolutely gripping account of veterinary medicine in the most remote inhabited island in the world: Tristan da Cunha. (Hollins did also work in the Falklands and St Helena, writing equally beautifully about his work there.)

Hollins writes with intelligence and wit, and thanks to him, I’ve added Tristan de Cunha to my bucket list. I hope this book gets all the accolades it deserves!

A reluctant 3 star rating on this one. There were certainly some interesting stories being told but if you are expecting James Herriot meets exotic animals you will be disappointed. There is none of the charm of James Herriot’s characters or storytelling and while there is mention of penguins and tortoises, it is primarily sheep, goats, chickens and rats’ tails of all things!
Personally it was the writing I found difficult to get to grips with. Overly descriptive and meandering to the extent that I lost track of what actually was happening and got no real sense of the landscape. It reminded me of students in school with the thesaurus out to find an alternative word just for the sake of it. And when explanation was required, if you didn’t have a medical degree, it was lacking.
A struggle to finish but thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

A great read. Loved the exotic places Jonathan had practised in and about the different animals he treated.

Vet at the end of the earth
Jonathan Hollings

Is a refreshingly different book. This is a vet who deals with complaints affecting pets but also is responsible for ensuring nothing is imported on the isle of St Helena or Tristan da Cunha.
The old UK territories sound reminiscent of the US when England aportionef plots of land and still have a parochial feel. The locals are like family piling in to get jobs done etc.

The autbor reads as a young man but retired by the end, although able to go on vigorous, rugged walks and climbs

Animals are either pets or food but are at least treated humanely and the scientific descriptions are well done so as to be interesting but with the hardest parts explained simply.

One gathers the vet's namesake becomes a good friend, even though many decades older.

The islands come to life as their beauty and hardships sre so clearly described. It is a far cry from being another James Herriot book but is fascinating.

I read all the James Herriot books while growing up, and loved the TV series. Add the quirky characters and exotic locations of South Georgia, the Falklands, St Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Ascension islands, and you will get the picture. Being the government representative in charge of checking the sanitary presentation of massive factory fishing boats, and of stamping satisfactory marks on lamb carcasses, and of deworming all the resident dogs to prevent two-species hosted parasites, was only half the work.
Jonathan also had to neuter cats, trap feral cats, judge rat killing contests and rescue a lost dog from a cliff. He had to make all the tricky rare diagnoses while maintaining vigilance against introduced disease or parasites; sadly he dealt with two major avian diseases. He oversaw the importation of new bull, sheep and poultry blood.
And, most fun, he had to monitor, diagnose and treat the age-related illness of a giant tortoise.
Possibly only a Scot would have gone to the far cold volcanic islands and stayed the rest of his life. Given the fantastic views and birds in the photos, the fact of living on coffee plantations and among reindeer herds (imported), other people should maybe try the life.
I've enjoyed this book so much.
I read an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

Set in the South Atlantic, the book follows Jonathan as a vet, dealing with a myriad of different cases and also some of his personal encounters.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, some of the veterinary terms didn't mean anything to me but did not detract from the enjoyment.

Jonathan Hollins has written a brilliant book - serious, funny and totally informative.. His years have been spent working as the senior, and usually the only, vet covering the British Overseas Atlantic Territories from St Helena, then to the Falklands , Tristan da Cunha and finally back to St Helena.

The reader starts by being introduced to the most famous resident on St Helena -Jonathan the 150+ year old tortoise, resident in the gardens of the island’s Governor - an immense responsibility that caused him a few heart-stopping moments! He soon finds himself totally immersed in the life of the families resident on St Helena together with their interesting collection of animals.

He returned to the Falklands, having previously spent a month there as locum vet, This time he is charged with worming every dog on the island, as they are having massive problems with an extremely invasive tape worm. Whilst the tape worm can infect humans and other animals their working dogs are more susceptible and are precious working members of the population - too valuable to lose. During his lengthy stay he visits every part of the Islands and immerses the reader in the life of Falklanders. Some of the antics leave the reader roaring with laughter and at other times virtually reduced to tears.

His vivid descriptions of life on all of the islands is fantastic - he has written a book that should be on everyone’s Christmas list.

Vet tales in the South Atlantic. Jona5hon tells a good tale, Interweaving island lore, geography and history around various animal cases. Like James Herriot before him, you can picture the setting and the people of the Falklands, St Helena and othe S Atlantic islands. Thoroughly entertaining. Recommend.

This was a cracking read. The author has had such an interesting life. The book concerns his work as a vet in the Falklands, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha islands, and absolutely inspired me to want to visit them.

The cases are all so varied, and described so clearly (but with no unnecessary stomach-turning graphics) that it makes for a really interesting read. From giant turtles to lost dogs, as well as some hairy and unusual ways to transfer from ship to shore, it is well outside my scope of experience and really opened my eyes to island life in the South Atlantic. He explains some of the local customs and practices, as well as painting a glorious picture of the scenery and the difficulties of their island lives, plus the close knit communities who stand by each other. And he does so in an interesting manner without preaching or lecturing the reader.

Brilliant! Thank you to NetGalley and Duckworth Books for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was a no-brainer for me to pick up a copy of this book, as I was an obsessive reader of animal-related memoirs from the age of about 7 upwards, devouring Gerald Durrell and James Herriot alongside more child-appropriate animal authors like Colin Dann and Virginia Vail.

And if you are anything like me in that respect, then you will love this book too – stories and reminiscences from the life of a vet in the British Overseas Territories of the South Atlantic (including the Falklands, and the islands of Tristan da Cunha, Ascension and St Helena).

Jonathan Hollins’ love of animals shines through in his stories here, but also his love of knowledge – as he takes us into medical and microbiological details and discusses ecological issues faced in the region – and his deep, abiding respect and admiration for the geography, culture and people of the islands he works on. The animals he cares for are (mostly) not fluffy family pets, but either working animals, livestock or wildlife, and so his stories tend less towards humorous shenanigans and more towards the thoughtful and insightful, but he still brings warmth and humour to his writing to leaven some of the more serious topics (biohazards, pandemics and similar).

Between these pages you will find tortoises, chickens, reindeer, sheep, fish, dogs, cats and microorganisms, all under the scope of the author’s work to maintain and improve the ecology of the islands, carefully balancing the native species with fresh genetic material, reducing invasive non-native species impact and eradicating dangerous bacteria or viral strains that threaten the animal (and human) populations.

This book is an informative and entertaining read for animal lovers, but also for anyone interested in the life of an island vet, or in the wider culture, history and geography of the islands of the South Atlantic.

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

All Creatures Great and Small but set in some of the most out of reach places on earth.
Jonathan Hollins shares some of his many stories in this wonderful book about his veterinarian adventures in the South Atlantic Islands and all of the hard work that this can entail.
I found this book to be a very interesting read about places I hadn’t really read anything about before and how remote island life can be. A definite read for animal lovers. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC to review.

What a charming book! Our first meeting of Joe Hollins is a phone call telling him that one of the giant tortoises on St Helena is dead. From there he takes us back to how he came to be working in mid Atlantic remote places. He takes us from the Falkland Islands to St Helena with Ascension Island and Tristan de Cunha thrown in. Both funny and sad, he takes us through some of the more unusual cases that have come his way, from sheep and cows to fish parasites. The book is very readable and well written, there is a lot of non-vet info about the places, but put so that it doesn't feel like a geography or history lesson. I was laughing out loud in places and feeling equally sad in others.

A Vet’s Life, but with a difference! As resident vet in the British Overseas Territories, it is fair to say it is no ordinary job covering the Falklands, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Jonathan Hollins’s tales range from caring for 190-year-old Jonathan the giant tortoise; pursuing invasive microorganisms; relocating herds of reindeer; and rescuing animals in extraordinary and rugged landscapes.

This book is about so much more than being a vet. This is a fascinating insight into remote island life, geography, conservation, biosecurity, history and so much more.

This book is so full of warmth, wit and love for the people and animals of the islands. This book deserves all the plaudits. I learned something new on every page. I couldn’t put this book down. I loved it! This has got to be a contender for my book of the year.

Thank you to Duckworth Books and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading about animal and nature on these remote islands that you rarely get to visit in the book world. Some of the stories were very entertaining, and I especially love Jonathan. It is also interesting to hear about the people and their traditions. However, I felt like the book moved very slowly forwards at times, and this was not to my liking. With a better pace this would have been an excellent read.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

5 star review!

What an unforgettable read! Absolutely loved this book thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read early