"Watership Down" by Richard Adams is a true classic.

This stirring tale of courage and survival against the odds has become one of the best-loved animal adventures of all time. 'We've got to go away before it's too late.' Fiver could sense danger.

Something terrible was going to happen to the warren - he felt sure of it.

So did his brother Hazel, for Fiver's sixth sense was never wrong.

They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them. And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home.

Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all..."Watership Down" is an epic journey, a stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival against the odds.

First published in 1972, this paperback reissue with a stunning new cover celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. "A gripping story of rebellion in a rabbit warren and the subsequent adventures of the rebels.

Adams has a poetic eye and a gift for storytelling which will speak to readers of all ages for many years to come". ("Sunday Times"). "A masterpiece. The best story about wild animals since "The Wind in the Willows".

Very funny, exciting, often moving". ("Evening Standard"). "A great book. A whole world is created, perfectly real in itself, yet constituting a deep incidental comment on human affairs". ("Guardian"). Richard Adams grew up in Berkshire, the son of a country doctor.

After an education at Oxford, he spent six years in the army and then went into the Civil Service.

He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters and they insisted he publish it as a book.

It quickly became a huge success with both children and adults, and won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal in 1972.

Richard Adams has written many novels and short stories, including "Shardik" and "The Plague Dogs".