Sunrise on the Reaping

Set twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, this prequel follows sixteen-year-old Haymitch Abernathy on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games—the Second Quarter Quell—where twice as many tributes are taken from each district. The novel explores themes of propaganda, political manipulation, and the mechanisms of control under a totalitarian regime, inspired by philosopher David Hume’s concept of implicit submission.