Bob Atkinson was born and raised in the district of Lochaber, in the Western Highlands of Scotland. At the age of seventeen, the age-old curse of the Highlands — lack of work and opportunity — forced him to take the same military path taken by many of his forebears. While serving with the army in Northern Ireland he met his future wife, inspiration for at least one of the female characters in The Last Sunset. Bob now lives in Fort William.