by Richard Adams

While working as a civil servant in Great Britain's Department of Environment, Richard Adams began writing Watership Down. The novel developed from stories that Adams told to amuse his two young daughters. At their insistence, Adams began writing the novel and finished it two years later. After numerous rejections, he finally found a publisher who agreed to print a small number of copies. The book became an immediate success with both juvenile and adult audiences.

Events in History at the Time of the Novel

Rabbits in fiction and the wild. Rabbits are believed to have been brought to England by the Normans in the eleventh century and to have been abundant there ever since. They prefer to place their warrens in dry areas that allow for easy digging and comfortable shelter. Their diet consists of grasses and plants and any vegetables...