I can't remember who wanted references to ferrets in fiction or lit - here
are some obscure references (almost none of which I would recommend as
fascinating reading, yet nevertheless still fitting the bill of "ferret
references"...)
 
THE ANIMAL LOVERS BOOK OF BEASTLY MURDER, by Patricia Highsmith, Penzler
Books.
The protagonists are all animals which, or who, get rid of their generally
despicable human owners.  Among those who turn the tables in a heartening
way are a whole factory's worth of battery-raised chickens, a ferret, a
poodle, a cat, and some hamsters.
 
DANGEROUS MEN, By Geoffrey Becker, University of Pittsburgh Press.
A collection of zany short stories. In "Erin and Malcolm" a disaffected bass
player whose former band is heading for success - with his wife as lead
singer - takes sweet revenge by plugging in his guitar, cranking up the amp
and blasting his wife's beloved ferret right out of the apartment, setting
off a chain of disasters that leads to the creature's ultimate demise -
deep-fried in the kitchen of a neighboring restaurant.
 
CYRIL CONNOLLY - A NOSTALGIC LIFE, By Clive Fisher, Macmillan.
A biography that remembers a critic, editor and personality. Mentions that
dining at his house was hazardous because of his pet ferrets (alluding that
his ferrets were not housetrained).
 
TOULOUSE-LAUTREC: A LIFE, By Julia Frey,.
Julia Frey uses family letters unavailable to previous biographers and
provides a study of the fag-end of the French aristocracy.  Henri Marie
Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa came from an ancient family that for
centuries had ruled over southern France.  His mother, Adele was a devout
Catholic; his father, count Alphonse, gave full meaning to the term "gone
hunting".  He vanished on the honeymoon, telegraphing two words: "Send
Ferrets".
 
HOME AND AWAY, By Joanne Meschery, Simon & Schuster
The protagonist takes her job seriously working swing shift at the
agricultural inspection station near the California-Nevada border. She
confiscates produce and the occassional ferret.
 
STILL EXPLOSION, By Mary Logue, Seal.
This is a mystery which is emphatically pro-choice. A bomb explodes at a
family planning clinic. The review says "Those who are comfortable with
Logue's political stand will welcome Laura's (the protagonist's) debut,
those who aren't may find the antic's of Laura's pet ferret this book's only
entertaining aspect."
 
LET'S EXPLORE ... FURRY, FISHY, FEATHERY FRIENDS, Braun books
A 7 year old and her father explore the world of pets from the ordinary to
the unusual. I can't remember for sure but I think they look at dogs, cats,
ferrets, birds, hermit crabs, lizards, alligators, prairie dogs etc etc and
then I think they decide to get a ferret. This is in book and video form.
 
COOLER BY THE LAKE by Larry Heinemann.
The hero is Max a mildly incompetent, mostly harmless petty crook. His house
is home to a posse of mangy cats and two pet ferrets "of which the best that
can be said is they don't have speaking parts" (from the review).
 
DRIFT AWAY, by Kerry Tucker, HarperCollins Books.
Libby goes undercover working as an office temp.  Libby is warned by her
supervisor that the firm allows no chewing gum, no open-toed shoes, no
lycra, no leather, no spraying hair, polishing nails or keeping pets in your
cubicle.  Libby tries to imagine the secretary who inspired the rules and
comes up with a wild woman-child in a black spandex body suit, her hair
whipped into a froth, a dog collar around her neck, her pet ferret tethered
to her wrist with a leather strap...
[Posted in FML issue 1432]