A James Herriot for the 21st century recounts his adventures as a newcomer to Newfoundland.
When Andrew Peacock made the move from Ontario to Newfoundland, he thought he was kicking off his career as a newly qualified vetenarian with an adventure in a temporary location. It was certainly an adventure, but there was nothing temporary about it. He practiced in Newfoundland for nearly 30 years and is still living there. In fact, he has lived there so long, the locals are starting to think of him as one of them.

Creatures of the Rock chronicles a career spent working with and getting to know a rich variety of animals and their owners, on farms, in homes and zoos, and in the wild. Andrew was the only vet for miles around. A day of practice could include anything from a Caesarian section on a cow in a blizzard to freeing a humpback whale from a trap designed for cod to capturing a polar bear after its surprise visit to a bingo parlor. And, on the human side, anything from trying to impress a surpringly large audience of farmers with your first boar castration, to taking care of a family just as well as its stricken cat, to discouraging farm hands from helping themselves to hypodermic needles. All this against the background of a domestic scene in which Andrew's wife Ingrid—also freshly qualified, as a doctor—shares the adventure of making new life, and in due course of starting a family.

Told in a series of brief, endlessly engaging stories, Creatures of the Rock is a funny, thrilling, unflinching but ultimately heartwarming narrative about the connections between people and animals, and people with each other.

Andrew Peacock was born in Toronto and raised in the town of Kapuskasing in northern Ontario. He worked in a mixed animal veterinary practice in rural Newfoundland from 1982 until 2010. His book Creatures of the Rock was long-listed for the 2015 Leacock medal for humour and won the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for the best non-fiction book in 2014. He currently lives in Freshwater with his wife, Ingrid, and dog, Charlotte. 

Andrew Peacock's profile page

• Short-listed, Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour

Winner of the Newfoundland and Labrador Non-Fiction Award
Finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
“Creatures of the Rock is a truly great read about an astounding life-long adventure. Funny, heartfelt and so insightful I think I have a good shot at birthing a cow if called upon in an emergency.” —Rick Mercer

"Peacock writes with charm." —Toronto Star

“Peacock’s keen ear for dialogue draws readers in and makes the stories come alive. . . . Peacock’s wry humour contributes greatly to his storytelling. . . . An ode to his adopted province and the creatures he serves in his practice. Creatures of the Rock provides readers with the opportunity to learn something new and be entertained at the same time.” —Winnipeg Free Press

“Poignant and well-told.” —Publishers Weekly
"Since 1970, when Alf Wight, under the pen name James Herriot, began his enormously successful All Creatures Great and Small series. . . others have tried to emulate his folksy, self-deprecating style. Peacock succeeds. His humorous anecdotes flow with an effortlessness that marks a true storyteller. . . . Downright hilarious." —Maclean's

“His stories show the dark side of life as well as the charmingly light. . . . Readers will also enjoy the author’s self-deprecating humour and fondness for colourful detail in stories that illuminate his deep regard and warmth for the people and places—and animals—of his adopted province.” —Guelph Mercury
"Peacock uses humour, real-life drama to share rural Newfoundland with the world.” —The Southern Gazette (Newfoundland)

“Wondrous funny. Creatures of the Rock is a book for anyone who has ever loved an animal. These are astonishing stories, told with self-deprecating humour and deep affection for Newfoundland’s creatures, great and small. Andrew Peacock inspires us to be curious, renews our sense of wonder, and reminds us that home is where the creatures are. A marvel of a book.” —Jessica Grant, author of Come, Thou Tortoise