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Sunrise on the Reaping, the new novel from Suzanne Collins about the cockeyed and roguish tribute Haymitch Abernathy (played in adult form by Woody Harrelson in the Hunger Games movies), bridges the gap between the District 12 we first met in The Hunger Games trilogy and the more old-fashioned mining town we saw in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The latter means that there are quite a lot of references to Lucy Gray Baird in Sunrise on the Reaping, which is out now ahead of a planned 2026 movie adaptation.
The novel is focused on Haymitch’s experience in the Games, but it also provides interesting backstory about Lucy Gray, what happened to the Covey, and how President Snow is feeling about his dalliance with love four decades later. Even with these teases, so many things about the OG District 12 victor’s fate remain a mystery.
Below, discover all that we learn — and don’t learn — about Lucy Gray Baird in the newest Hunger Games novel, Sunrise on the Reaping. Warning: Major spoilers ahead.
Haymitch’s girlfriend is Lucy Gray’s relative
Haymitch grew up in the Seam, like most of his fellow District 12 victors, and reveals very early on that his girlfriend Lenore Dove is not only a member of the Covey but a Baird, just like Lucy Gray. (They’re also, not for nothing, both named after fictional ghost girls: “Lucy Gray” for the William Wordsworth poem and “Lenore” for the Edgar Allen Poe poem.) Lenore Dove Baird was raised by her uncles Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine Clade, two of Lucy Gray’s cousins whom we met in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Haymitch says that “her ma died in childbirth” and “her pa’s always been something of a mystery.”
Did you also jump to the conclusion that Lenore Dove’s parents are Lucy Gray and Coriolanus Snow? I would say it’s lightly implied that this could be the case. But I’m not 100 percent sure I believe it. Sure, Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine might have told Lenore Dove that Lucy Gray died in childbirth because the truth is too painful. But the math doesn’t add up. Haymitch says that Lenore Dove is sixteen years old, and their story takes place 40 years after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. That would mean that the star-crossed pair met back up when they were adults and had a secret love child. If true, that’s a story we’re gonna need to see ASAP.
It’s more likely, I think, that Lenore Dove’s mother is Lucy Gray’s little cousin Maude Ivory Baird. (RIP to the theory that Lucy Gray’s little cousin was Katniss’ grandmother.) The ages match up. Lenore Dove is buried with Maude Ivory, so we know she’s passed. There is a headstone for Lucy Gray in the Covey cemetery too. So, ultimately, both Lenore Dove’s parentage and Lucy Gray’s whereabouts are left up in the air. It’s still possible that Lucy Gray escaped, and the Covey put up that stone in her absence. Lenore Dove dreamed of running North and finding people outside of Panem. Mother or not, maybe she knew deep down that she had family there.
Several characters sing or reference Lucy Gray’s songs
Public performances are banned in District 12, and the Covey get around this by playing instrumental tunes only and letting the crowd sing the words. In private, Lenore Dove sings 18th century folk tunes like “The Goose and the Common” as well as some of Lucy Gray’s own songs. In the arena, Maysilee quotes a lyric from “Nothing You Can Take From Me” though she doesn’t even know it’s a Covey song until Haymitch informs her. Burdock Everdeen sings “The Old Therebefore,” which Lucy Gray sang in the arena, at the funeral for everyone they’ve lost in the events of the Quarter Quell.
As Haymitch rides back to District 12 on a train with the coffins carrying his fellow tributes, he analyzes the lyrics to “The Hanging Tree,” a song we know Lucy Gray wrote. He remembers that Lenore Dove used to play it for him and Burdock. Isn’t it beautiful how that song traveled down through generations of rebellious teens, like a baton in a relay race, to ultimately become Katniss’ rallying cry in Panem?
There are also brief references to other songs that first appeared in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: “Gem of Panem” and their traditional birthday song. You know what song the Covey do not sing 40 years later, however? “Pure As the Driven Snow,” the ballad Lucy Gray writes about her and Coriolanus’ romance. Good.
President Snow threatens Haymitch with a familiar hypothetical
After Haymitch pulls a stunt during the parade, President Snow arranges to meet with him. He threatens the teenager by dropping insider knowledge about the Covey and Haymitch’s relationship. “You love her,” Snow says. “And oh, how she seems to love you. Except sometimes you wonder, because her plans don’t include you at all.” It’s clear that he’s talking about his own relationship with Lucy Gray and how doubt tore them apart.
Haymitch is fascinated by District 12’s mysterious only victor
Haymith knows that District 12 has had one victor, and that it was before they got a Victors’ Village. But even though he’s asked around about her, nobody can tell him anything. Lenore Dove, who probably knew more than she let on, flat out refuses. When Quarter Quell coverage recaps previous games, they don’t show or mention Lucy Gray at all.
After the Quarter Quell, President Snow curiously arranges for the television at the apartment where Haymitch is confined to stream Lucy Gray’s interview performance of “The Ballad of Lucy Gray” in the middle of the night. Haymitch recognizes that she is Covey and puts together through context clues that she is the missing District 12 victor. He notices how similar the fabric in her dress is to Lenore Dove’s ribbons. He even recognizes Coriolanus reaching out to her at the end of the song. Haymitch's media literacy skills are exemplary. It's no wonder he liked Peeta so much. But the footage cuts off before Haymitch learns the girl’s name.
Infuriatingly, Haymitch doesn’t get to follow up with President Snow. Nor does he think to ask Mags about her during his training. He’s just haunted by the mystery surrounding the first District 12 victor as he becomes its second and only for the next 24 years.
Haymitch’s Token is a songbird & snake that catches fire
Can you stand it? Lenore Dove gives him a flint striker for his birthday that he takes into the arena. It’s in the shape of the two animals fighting. Tam Amber made it. We also learn that Tam Amber made the Mockingjay pin for Maysilee Donner that got passed down to Katniss. Everything is connected, woven together through found objects and songs over the years.
