RAINING CATS AND DONKEYS

The author's earlier bemusement with the Siamese cats Solomon and Sheba is fortified rather than diminished in this new bestiary, along with gossip about donkey Annabel, assorted horses, and another, less exotic, feline called Robertson. Annabel is adorably infuriating, causing emergency vet visits because of overeating, running away with abandon and ingenuity, alerting a whole village to the prospect of a foal which wasn't. The cats provide some further diversion as they establish their territorial rights in alarms and abhorrent excursions. The author and her husband also undertake a riding trip with painful postings. . . . This then consists of front window observations of rural England, some affectionate to exasperated natterings on animal vagaries, and the tone is airy and amusing.