The story behind Suzanne Collins’s bestselling dystopian trilogy for young adults

The fascinating story behind Suzanne Collins’s bestselling dystopian trilogy

Suzanne Collins conceived The Hunger Games as a parable for teen life and a warning against a dystopian future. Her chilling vision of a post-apocalyptic world has captured the imagination of a generation of readers, creating a publishing phenomenon.

In this illuminating guide to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, Robb sheds light on the key themes of the books and their major characters – Peeta Mellark, Gale Hawthorne and the tough, self-reliant heroine Katniss Everdeen, the role that made a star of Jennifer Lawrence – and looks at the sources in Greek myth, Roman history and American entertainment that Collins has drawn on.

He also chronicles the adaptation of Collins’s bestselling novels into a series of blockbuster films starring Jennifer Lawrence and analyses the wider cultural impact of Collins's work.