Watership Down

richard adams

Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.

Genres classicsfictionfantasyyoung adultanimalsadventurechildrensaudiobookliteraturenovels

476 pages, Paperback

First published November 1,1972

Series

Watership Down

Literary awards

mythopoeic fantasy award, guardian childrens fiction prize, audie award, boston globe-horn book award, california young readers medal, carnegie medal,

Places

watership down hampshire, hampshire england, england, united kingdom,

This edition

Format: 476 pages, Paperback
Published: November 1, 2005 by Charles Scribner's Sons
ISBN
ASIN
Language: English

Characters More characters

Bigwig

An ex-OWSLA officer, and the largest rabbit of the group. His name in Lapine is Thlayli, which literally means "Fur-head" and refers to the shock of fur on the back of his head. Though he is powerful and fierce, he is shown to also be cunning in his own w...
Fiver

A runt rabbit whose name literally means "Little-thousand" or "Little-many" (rabbits have a single word, "hrair", for all numbers greater than four; Fivers name in Lapine, Hrair-loo, indicates that he is the smallest of a litter of five or more rabb...
El-ahrairah

the mythological first rabbit, the Prince of a Thousand Enemies; hes cunning, clever, swift, and playfulmore...
Hazel

The protagonist, Fivers brother; he leads the rabbits from Sandleford and eventually becomes Chief Rabbit. Though Hazel is not particularly large or powerful, he is loyal, brave, and a quick thinker. He sees the good in each individual, and what the...
Pipkin

A small and timid buck rabbit, who looks to Hazel for guidance and protection. Hazel encourages him, and Pipkin grows very loyal to Hazel. He proves to be a constant comforter, particularly for Holly after the destruction of Sandleford warren....
Blackberry

a very clever bunny, indeed...

About the author

richard adams

Adams was born in Newbury, Berkshire. From 1933 until 1938 he was educated at Bradfield College. In 1938 he went up to Worcester College, Oxford to read Modern History. On 3 September 1939 Neville Chamberlain announced that the United Kingdom was at war with Germany. In 1940 Adams joined the British Army, in which he served until 1946. He received a class B discharge enabling him to return to Worcester to continue his studies for a further two years (1946-48). He took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1948 and of Master of Arts in 1953.

He was a senior civil servant who worked as an Assistant Secretary for the Department of Agriculture, later part of the Department of the Environment, from 1948 to 1974. Since 1974, following publication of his second novel, Shardik, he has been a full-time author.

He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters, Juliet and Rosamund, and they insisted he publish it as a book. It took two years to write and was rejected by thirteen publishers. When Watership Down was finally published, it sold over a million copies in record time in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Watership Down has become a modern classic and won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972. To date, Adams' best-known work has sold over 50 million copies world-wide, earning him more than all his other books put together.

As of 1982, he was President of the RSPCA.

He also contested the 1983 general election, standing as an Independent Conservative in the Spelthorne constituency on a platform of opposition to fox hunting.