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Once Bitten

The Adventures and Misadventures of a Young Veterinary Surgeon

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Once Bitten

By: Nick Marsh
Narrated by: Harry Petrie
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About this listen

When Alan Reece qualified as a veterinary surgeon at the dawn of the new millennium, he had a plan: save the world, one animal at a time.

Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy, and Alan soon discovers he has far more enemies than he was expecting – aside from vicious pets, difficult owners, surly farmers, and children from hell, he finds himself working with an unhinged and jealous surgeon who makes it his personal mission ruin Alan's life.

Battling long hours, life and death decisions, tragic cases, a complaint from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and an unexpected love triangle, Alan’s hopes of saving the world are quickly replaced with a simple question:

Can he even last a year in practice? Once Bitten… is the story of a young vet’s first few months in practice, and how they changed his life forever.

©2016 Nicholas Marsh (P)2025 Nicholas Marsh Coming of Age Genre Fiction Surgery Tear-jerking
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This memoir reminds me very much of This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay. It’s a similar story of someone going into a profession they’ve dreamed of since they were quite young, only to find the reality very much different to the dream.

Nick has found some good little stories in his first two years of practice as a vet. While it perhaps lacks some of the shocks of the aforesaid This Is Going To Hurt, it is told with humour, compassion, and a voice that, while very occasionally avoiding self-pity by hair’s breadth, keeps the reader interested.

There is a lot of humour, a lot of reflection on the vagaries of the life of a vet and excellently drawn characters. Oh, and some terrible puns!

Well worth your time!

A great little memoir - well worth your pennies!

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