There have always been a lot of questions about the 73 years of Hunger Games before Katniss and Peeta were selected as District 12’s tributes. Some answers came in the books that followed The Hunger Games, while others arrived in the form of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. One of the biggest mysteries, however, revolved around the 50th Games, when District 12 mentor Haymitch Abernathy emerged as the lone victor. No one was quite sure how Haymitch actually won, but we did know that he has spent 24 years drinking himself away as the result of what he experienced. Thanks to Suzanne Collins’ latest novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, we now know the details of Haymitch’s victory — and what it ultimately cost him.

Haymitch was reaped into the 50th Hunger Games, otherwise known as the Second Quarter Quell, which featured twice as many tributes from each district. 48 kids and teenagers from the districts were put into the arena, making it the deadliest edition of the Hunger Games in Panem’s history. So how did Haymitch manage to survive it?