Charles Maclean is married with four children and lives on the west coast of Argyll, where he runs a small estate and holiday cottage business. An associate editor of Travel and Leisure magazine, Maclean spent ten years in New York, from where he wrote a column for the London Evening Standard. He was a founder member of the Ecologist magazine and with Edward Goldsmith helped launch 'Blueprint For Survival', which became a handbook for the environmental movement in the UK.
He has written several acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction including the prize-winning classic Island on the Edge of the World.