Claire R. McDougall was born in Edinburgh, and then raised mainly on the west coast of Scotland. She gained an M.A. from Edinburgh University and an M.Litt. from Oxford. After an early start as a newspaper columnist, her career in creative writing moved through the genre of poetry before settling on novels. Claire holds a black belt in karate and is a fierce supporter of Scottish independence. For the past thirty years, she and her family have made her home in Aspen, Colorado.