The Hole

In 2001, what started out as a minor animal-health incident turned in a major event that affected a great many lives in Britain, as the Foot and Mouth crisis all but crippled the rural economy. Himself a sheep farmer in an infected area at that time, the author unravels from his experiences, a gritty drama based around a young ex-soldier in South Scotland just starting out on a fresh future in farming. As the epidemic spirals out of control, Neville Lambert gets begrudgingly dragged into the centre of the crisis, uncovering some of his own past in the process. Based on real life events, the story attributes a series of substantial blunders and cover-ups made by the Government of that time to be the core reason of how the problem was allowed to develop to such a catastrophic degree, as well as revealing the truth about the real extent of the damage that Foot and Mouth caused and how much of it may have been avoided.Andy Frazier has bred and worked with livestock, man and boy. In 1993, after leaving the family farm, his livestock supplies company was for many years at the heart of the UK pedigree cattle and sheep industry. During that time he also ran a number of successful pedigree sheep flocks, and thus experienced the full impact of the Foot and Mouth crisis, making radio and TV appearances on the subject. After subsequently turning his back on the industry, Andy started and ran a successful IT company, developing system documentation for blue chip companies. After retiring to France 10 years ago to renovate an old farmhouse, Andy turned his hand to writing. Although initially producing for the children's sector, he has honed his craft through a number of genres, settling on real-life drama stories. As well as writing upwards of 30 books, he is currently mid-way through collaborating on a major film script. He now shares his time between a farmhouse in France and a coastal apartment in Scotland's East Neuk of Fife.THE HOLE was initially written as his first screenplay, which has been subsequently re-written into this novel - his 40th book to date.Andy still keeps a flock of sheep to maintain his sanity!