Richard Adams began Watership Down as stories told to his two daughters on car journeys. Published in 1972 by the small London firm Rex Collings, after other publishers had turned it down, it won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and became one of the best-selling novels of the century. It is still read by children and adults alike.
The story
A young rabbit, Fiver, has a vision that his warren is about to be destroyed. Only a few believe him. His brother Hazel leads a small group into the unknown countryside of Berkshire and Hampshire in search of a safe home. On the way they encounter warrens that have made very different bargains for survival, and they eventually reach the hill called Watership Down. To build a future, they need does, which leads them into conflict with Efrafa, a warren run by the ruthless General Woundwort.
Why it lasts
- Leadership. Hazel is not the strongest rabbit but becomes chief by listening, sharing credit and taking responsibility. The book is often cited in discussions of leadership for that reason.
- Tyranny and order. Efrafa is safe, orderly and terrifying: rabbits are marked, controlled and punished, and dissent is crushed. Adams, who served in the Second World War, gives the warren a recognisably authoritarian shape.
- Comfort bought at a price. One warren the travellers visit is well fed and outwardly peaceful, but its comfort depends on a terrible secret its members refuse to name. It is a sharp portrait of a community that has agreed not to ask questions.
- Myth and storytelling. The rabbits' legends of El-ahrairah, the trickster hero, give the book depth and humour.
Adaptations
An animated film in 1978 was famously frightening for young audiences. A BBC and Netflix miniseries followed in 2018. Adams died in 2016.
Why it is on this site
The warren that stays silent about what keeps it safe is a fable about complicity. Questions of what communities and institutions knew, and chose not to say, are at the heart of every inquiry into the past, including the Finucane case.