PanMacmillan Author Series: Alex van Tonder talks about This One Time

"Alaska as a setting is really important. Apart from being physically isolated and impossible to penetrate… what was really important for his character development was for him to be emotionally isolated. A large part of his sense of self is linked to his affirmation online… he chases likes, he chases that endless online affirmation that you get when you’re a social media celebrity, so he needed to be in a place where he could get none of that… He has to escape, but he also has to come to terms with what he’s become."