"Please tell Jan Twomey," asks Richard Ramsden, of Mosman (peculiar pets' names, Column 8, Tuesday), "that I used to have a cat called Trouble. I was naturally disposed to go looking for it."

ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER Ensemble Theatre, Kirribilli, 9929 0644, $39-$63.

LEAGUE tables will influence parents to buy homes in suburbs with top-ranking schools, university researchers and real estate agents predict.

MARGARET MACKIE 1914-2009

The Rehearsal By Eleanor Catton Granta Books, 320pp, $29.99 Music from Another Country By Jeremy Fisher Fat Frog Books, 100pp, $23.95 The Blue Notebook By James A. Levine Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 224pp, $29.99 Present Danger By Stella Rimington Quercus, 384pp, $32.95