Watership Down
Watership Down was the title of Richard Adams' first and most successful novel, named after a hill in the north of Hampshire in England where Adams grew up. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1972.
It tells the story of the escape of a group of rabbits from their threatened home and their subsequent adventures. Although Adams has always stated that the book was intended to be a children's story, many fans see the book as a political allegory, attacking fascism as Animal Farm attacked socialism.
Many years after the original novel Adams wrote a series of related short stories, Tales from Watership Down.
Watership Down has become a modern classic and was made into an acclaimed animated film, directed by Martin Rosen. The film featured the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers and Roy Kinnear, among others. Art Garfunkel's No.1 hit, "Bright Eyes", was also featured, although in a different arrangement from the record version. In 1999, an animated television series under the same name was produced with Martin Rosen as coproducer.
Book numbers