ABSTRACT
The 21st century has seen an increasing number of dystopian novels whose protagonists are young women who move beyond binary thinking. Relying on the concepts of “feminist critical dystopias,” this essay examines recent female-centred dystopian fictions, such as Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games Trilogy (2008–2010), Veronica Roth’s Divergent Series (2011–2013), and Ambelin Kwaymullina’s Tribe Trilogy (2012–2015), and focuses on Flawed (2016) and Perfect (2017) by Irish bestselling novelist Cecelia Ahern. These works engage several contemporary discourses on adolescent womanhood and race, while portraying the way female agency succeeds in moving beyond dualism. The novels’ protagonists, who break down dichotomous oppositions and embrace plurality and diversity, envision new possibilities and alternatives for young women, and contribute to redefining what it means to be a young woman in the 21st century.
