Adams, Richard

About the author

Richard Adams (1920–2016) was born in 1920, and studied at Worcester College, Oxford. He is best known for his animal stories, particularly Watership Down (1972). The book originated as a story told to his daughters, who insisted he write it down. It was rejected several times before being accepted by Rex Collings. The story of a journey undertaken by rabbits after a visionary amongst them predicts the destruction of their burrow, the book was a tremendous success, winning the Carnegie Medal, and being made into a (not particularly successful) film.

Richard Adams carried on writing animal stories, one of which, Traveller, (1989) was about an American horse: Robert E Lee’s horse, who has his own particular take on the Civil War.

Finding the books
Widely available

Links and sources
Biographical information on Richard Adams on jrank.org


Bibliography (horse books only)


Traveller

Hutchinson, London, 1989
Penguin, London, 1989, 366 pp, pb

From the blurb: “This ironic, revisionist view of the Civil War is seen through the eyes of Robert E Lee’s horse, Traveller. Told in a series of monologues directed at a tomcat, his story depicts battles, retreats and casualties. But Traveller’s idealisation of his rider does not allow him to recognise or even understand defeat.”