Noughts & Crosses (novel series)

This article is about the novel series by Malorie Blackman. For other uses of Noughts and Crosses, see Noughts and crosses (disambiguation).

Noughts & Crosses is a series of young adult novels by British author Malorie Blackman, including six novels and three novellas. The series is speculative fiction describing an alternative history The series takes place in an alternative 21st-century Britain.

At the time of the series, slavery had been abolished for some time, but segregation, similar to the Jim Crow Laws, continues to operate to keep the Crosses (dark-skinned people) in control of the noughts (lighter-skinned people). An international organisation, the Pangaean Economic Community, exists. Seeming to be similar to the United Nations in scope but similar to the European Union in powers, it is playing a role in forcing change by directives and boycotts.

The book is written from two different perspectives – Callum's and Sephy's (Persephone) – and their experiences of their entwined but very different worlds. The chapters alternate, with even chapters being Callum's and odd ones Sephy's.

There are six books in the series: Noughts and Crosses, Knife Edge, Checkmate, Double Cross, Crossfire, and Endgame.

Novels

Noughts & Crosses

Noughts & Crosses

Noughts & Crosses Front Cover
Author	Malorie Blackman
Language	English
Series	Noughts & Crosses saga
Subject	Forbidden Love, Racism, Political Terrorism
Genre	Action, Adventure, Romance
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	2001
Publication place	Britain
Media type	Book
Pages	454 pages
ISBN	978-0-385-60008-8
OCLC	45592902
Followed by	Knife Edge

The book Noughts and Crosses is an alternate reality fiction based in a 22nd-century parallel universe. Their world is similar to the reality of the 21st century, with equivalent types of jobs, of government, and so on. Racial inequality is the driving force of the storyline, and there aren't many laws or constitutional protections from discrimination. There are two races in the book: the Crosses (darker-skinned people) are the dominant race with the individuals owning most of the wealth, good jobs, different and better schools etc. The second race, the noughts (lighter-skinned people) are at the poorer end of society usually doing manual labour or being servants to Crosses, with poor schools – if any at all.

Sephy (full name Persephone) Hadley is a Cross. She is the daughter of a wealthy senior politician, Kamal Hadley, who later takes office as Prime Minister. Callum McGregor is a nought. They used to play together when Jasmine Adeyebe-Hadley, Sephy's mother, employed Meggie McGregor, Callum's mother, as a nanny. However, Jasmine fired Meggie for being unable to provide an alibi for her when Kamal confronts Jasmine about his suspicions of her infidelity: that is only strongly suggested for now but is made explicit later. Since then, Sephy and Callum's friendship has been secret, as such interracial friendships are frowned upon by society.

Callum is one of the first few noughts to start at Heathcroft, a high school for Crosses that now accepts the best-performing noughts. Sephy is overjoyed to find that Callum is in her class after helping him pass the entrance examination. However, most of her classmates do not accept her association with a nought. The two develop a more intimate connection, and Sephy does not care about the opposition and even sits at a table with noughts. That angers Callum, but the two make up.

Meanwhile, Callum's elder brother, Jude, and his father, Ryan, join the Liberation Militia (LM), a violent paramilitary organisation against Cross supremacy. Jasmine becomes an alcoholic.

Callum's troubled elder sister, Lynette, commits suicide by throwing herself in front of a bus. Only Callum knows that it was suicide, as Lynette had left him a secret note that talks of her depression after an attack on her and her Cross boyfriend. Everyone else thinks that it was a tragic accident, despite all of her previous suicide attempts.

Jude and Ryan are accused of lethally bombing Dundale Shopping Centre, which was committed by the LM. Callum is also accused after he tells Sephy to get out of the shopping centre but he is spared due to a lack of evidence. Callum has to leave school, and Ryan faces the gallows. Jasmine, remembering that she used to be friends with the McGregor family, secretly hires a prominent Cross lawyer to defend Ryan. Escaping hanging, Ryan is given a life sentence but is killed by an electric fence, supposedly in an escape attempt.

Sephy decides to start anew and persuades a reluctant Jasmine to let her attend a boarding school, Chivers. Sephy has not heard from Callum for a week so she writes him a letter asking him to run away with her and telling him that she will be leaving for Chivers if he does not contact her. However, Callum has decided to join the LM, against the wishes of his mother, and he does not read the letter until just before Sephy leaves. Callum sprints to Sephy's house and fails to catch up with the car as it pulls out of the driveway. Having not seen Callum running behind, Sephy concludes that their friendship is no longer as important to him as she had thought.

Years later, Sephy returns home from Chivers. She enters the house and discovers that Callum had left her a letter telling her to meet him at the family's private beach. Sephy decides to meet up with him but later she finds out that Callum is there with others from the LM to kidnap her and hold her hostage. Jude punches Sephy in the stomach, and the gang members take her to their hideout. The members of the LM deliver a message to Sephy's father, Kamal, to release at least five LMs from prison and pay money if he wants to see Sephy alive.

The LM's second-in-command, Andrew Dorn, visits Callum and his cell members. Andrew informs Kamal of where two of the LM team members are while they are making phone calls. One is killed, and the other is put in jail.

During a time alone, Callum visits a hurt Sephy in the room where she is being held. Callum reveals to Sephy that he unsuccessfully tried to catch up with her before she left for Chivers. Their love rekindles and, after Callum whispers that he loves her, they have sex in Sephy's cell. Afterwards, Sephy cannot seem to stop crying, and Sephy escapes into the woods and is soon chased by Jude and Morgan, the other survivor. Callum finds her and gives false instructions to the others. Callum then gives Sephy instructions to escape. Sephy tells Callum that she had seen Andrew, without knowing his identity, in her house with Kamal, which shows that Andrew is a government informer.

Callum tells Jude and Morgan what Sephy said about Andrew. They agree to split up and keep a low profile for six months and not meet up again until Callum's birthday.

Sephy feels an unusual tummy bug come on. Her sister, Minerva, asks if she is pregnant, which Sephy denies. Sephy takes a pregnancy test, which reveals she is pregnant with Callum's child. Meanwhile, Callum is working as a mechanic, as a cover, and hears Kamal on the radio; he has to confirm or deny rumours that his daughter is pregnant. Sephy's parents learn of her pregnancy and pressure her to have an abortion, but Sephy repeatedly refuses.

Callum then meets Sephy in the Hadleys' rose garden. Sephy confirms the rumours, and they decide on names for the child: Ryan, after Callum's father, if it is a boy, and Callie Rose if it is a girl. Callum is found in the garden and is arrested. No one believes Sephy when she maintains that she was not raped. Callum stands trial and is sentenced to be hanged. Kamal tells Sephy that if she keeps her child, Callum will be hanged, but if she has the abortion, he will serve years in prison instead. Kamal makes a similar offer to Callum but also wants Callum to say publicly that he raped her. Both decide to keep the baby, and Callum is hanged at the gallows at the end of the book.

Knife Edge

Knife Edge

Knife Edge Front Cover
Author	Malorie Blackman
Language	English
Series	Noughts & Crosses Saga
Genre	Young adult fiction
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	5 February 2004
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	449 pages
ISBN	978-0-385-60527-4
Preceded by	Noughts & Crosses
Followed by	Checkmate

Callum's brother, Jude, blames Sephy for the terrible losses his family has suffered and is determined to destroy Sephy's life by any means necessary. He meets Cara Imega, a Cross, and befriends her to access her money.

Sephy, living with Callum's mother, Meggie, becomes increasingly fond of her daughter, Callie Rose. Callum's guard, Jack, delivers a letter, written by Callum before he died, saying that he never loved her and could not believe that she was stupid enough to fall for him, telling her to forget about him. Meggie tries to make Sephy believe that Callum was forced to write the letter by the rest of the gang, but the letter is so hurtful that Sephy believes it and develops postnatal depression. She meets Jaxon, a hot-tempered man with a band, the Midges. He offers Sephy a singing part, but the noughts are prejudiced against her because she is a Cross. She begins to neglect Callie Rose.

Cara spends a lot of time with Jude. Although he loathes Crosses, he begins to fall in love with her. Frustrated and confused with his feelings for a Cross, Jude beats her severely and runs off with a large amount of money. After she dies in hospital, Jude is eventually arrested and charged with Cara's murder. He is virtually certain to get the death sentence since his fingerprints are all over her apartment and had been seen with her by several witnesses.

Sephy struggles with seeing Meggie losing the last remaining member of her family. Sephy decides, for the sake of Meggie (not wanting her to lose all her children - Lynette to mental issues, Callum to the death penalty), to give Jude a false alibi for Cara's death. That works, and after serving a few months in prison for LM membership, Jude accuses LM second-in-command Andrew Dorn of Cara's murder and claims Dorn is a government informer; Andrew is soon shot dead by the LM. Jude, even though Sephy saved his life, still holds his grudge against her and plots a terrible revenge.

Sephy's life begins to fall apart. The Crosses hate her because she helped Jude escape the noose, the noughts because she did not come to his aid sooner. She hugs her daughter too tightly while she sings the famous song "Rainbow Child". Callie Rose stops breathing, and Meggie repeatedly screams at Sephy, "What have you done?"

Checkmate

Checkmate

Checkmate Front Cover
Author	Malorie Blackman
Language	English
Series	Noughts & Crosses Saga
Genre	Young adult fiction
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	30 June 2005
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	511 pages
ISBN	978-0-385-60773-5
Preceded by	Knife Edge
Followed by	Double Cross

Callie Rose struggles with growing up as half-nought and half-cross after she learns the truth about her nought father's life from her friend, Tobey, who calls her a terrorist's daughter. Callie Rose had been told by her mother that her father, Callum, had been a gardener who died in an accident. Callie Rose becomes angry with her mother, Sephy, for hiding the truth. She decides to follow the path of her father. She also cuts off her friendship with Tobey despite his attempts to apologise.

Sephy feels trapped and rejects an offer of marriage from her boyfriend, Sonny. She meets Nathan (Nathaniel Ealing), the owner of the restaurant in which she sings, and the two start a relationship.

Jude takes Callie Rose to Kamal's house. After Kamal denies that she is his granddaughter, Jude, now the General of the LM, exploits her anger to groom her to become a suicide bomber.

Callie Rose starts dating Lucas, a cross who is an ex-friend's brother. Jasmine, Sephy's mother, does what she can to bring Callie and Sephy closer together but develops breast cancer and struggles with her life. Nathan proposes to Sephy, who accepts, but Sonny shows up in her life again. Sephy is left confused but engaged.

Celine Labinjah, the daughter of Callum's prison guard Jack, gives a letter that was written by Callum before he was hanged. Callum told Jack this is the letter with his real feelings. Callum says in the letter he greatly wishes that he had been able to stay with Sephy, as he loved her so much. He also tells Sephy to keep his past secret from their child.

Sephy and Callie Rose resume their relationship after Jasmine traps them in her wine cellar so that they sort things out. Jasmine sets off the bomb to prevent Jude from injuring anyone else. Kamal had been the intended target of the bomb, but he only loses power, after Jasmine had sent a letter to the press about his rampant corruption.

Double Cross

Double Cross

Double Cross Front Cover
Author	Malorie Blackman
Language	English
Series	Noughts & Crosses Saga
Genre	Young adult fiction
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	November 2008
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	480 pages
ISBN	978-0-385-61551-8
Preceded by	Checkmate
Followed by	Crossfire

Kamal's party loses the election badly to a more liberal government. Callie Rose knows secretly that she made the bomb that killed Jasmine and that it was intended for Jasmine's ex-husband, Kamal. Callie Rose also fears that Jude, her uncle, is still alive since he is known for serving revenge cold. The press fails to mention Jude in connection to the bomb but notes the death of Robert Powers.

Callie Rose's best friend and later boyfriend, Tobey, is worried about his own future. As a Nought boy at an exclusive school, Tobey hopes to keep out of trouble, go to university, get a good job and leave behind the dangerous streets of his childhood. However, he cannot keep clinging to some kind of no-man's land while the neighbourhood around him is carved up by rival gangs, one headed by a ruthless man, Alex McAuley, the head of a gang of Noughts, and another headed by the Dowds, the head of a gang of Crosses. Both are powerful gangs that frequently injure and kill each other's members as well as suspected informants.

Tobey is offered the chance to earn some ready money just making a few 'deliveries' after he is introduced by a friend, Dan, who works for McAuley. Tobey wants no part of the world of gangs but makes an exception for once.

Tobey finds out that the delivery was the little finger of one of the Dowds, a manager at the restaurant. He keeps the secret from his girlfriend Callie Rose. They start kissing and touching each other. Callie Rose asks Tobey if he is ready. They have sex in his bedroom. Callie Rose then leaves but promises to meet him again.

The next day, when Dan, Tobey and Callie Rose get together, Callie Rose is shot by a hail of bullets from McAuley. Her surgery is successful, but she ends up in coma. Sephy is furious at Tobey for not becoming more of a man and telling the police who shot Callie Rose. Sephy does not know that Tobey has sworn revenge on McAuley and plans on doing so 'himself'.

While Callie Rose is in hospital, Tobey gets a new job at TFTM (Thanks for the Memories), the Dowds' restaurant. He meets Rebecca, Vanessa Dowd's daughter. Rebecca loves his company, as he treats her like a person, unlike other boys, who are interested only in her family and money. Tobey eventually goes out with her but is confused between her and Callie Rose.

Callie Rose wakes from her coma and finds out that Robert Powers was a false identity of Jude, who thus was certainly killed by the bomb. However, she learns that Tobey is dating Rebecca and that she had been in a coma for so long.

During a visit to Vanessa Dowd's house, Tobey is revealed to have been making deliveries for McAuley. Rebecca is shocked, but Tobey reassures her that he does not work for him any longer. However, he decides to end their relationship and become merely 'friends'. When Rebecca leaves, McAuley appears and stabs her. He then orders Tobey to meet him at his warehouse.

Tobey knows that McAuley wants to kill him, but a plan is set up with Owen Dowd, Rebecca's brother. He puts a great deal of money in Byron Sweet, one of McAuley's minions, to frame him as a traitor. He goes to the warehouse and successfully executes his plan. However, he is almost killed by two more of McAuley's minions. Luckily, Dan appears from nowhere and kills the two minions outside and McAuley, saving Tobey's life. Dan ends up on the run.

Jasmine, in her will, gives both houses, including the beach, to Sephy. She also gives sums to Meggie (to whom she writes a letter of apology), Tobey (who he is very surprised at, because of the distance between him and Jasmine), Callie Rose, Minerva, Zuri, Taj and Sarah.

Tobey tells Callie that he is responsible for the deaths of five people (Rebecca Dowd, Bryon Sweet, Alex McAuley and minions Dave and Scott) and that Dan is on the run. Callie then points out that Jasmine and Jude died because of her. They eventually resume their relationship and admit their love.

In the epilogue, it is revealed that both Callie and Tobey go to university to study law and that Tobey has set up and helps fund the Meadowview Shelter to help those with drug and alcohol addictions.

Crossfire

Crossfire

Crossfire Front Cover
Author	Malorie Blackman
Language	English
Series	Noughts & Crosses Saga
Genre	Young adult fiction
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	8 August 2019
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	432 pages
ISBN	978-0-241-38844-0
Preceded by	Double Cross
Followed by	Endgame

The fifth book in the series, Crossfire, was published on 8 August 2019. Part of the book picks up months after Double Cross on Callie's birthday, exactly one year after Checkmate; the rest occurs eighteen years later. Callie Rose and Tobey return as protagonists, while Callie's half-brother Troy Ealing (born to Sephy and Nathan) and Tobey's daughter Libby Jackman are introduced. The plot focuses on Troy and Libby being kidnapped by masked assailants, with flashbacks illustrating their backstory, filling in the gaps between Double Cross and Crossfire, and revealing the abductors' identities. The story ends on a cliffhanger, indicating an upcoming sixth instalment.

Tobey's guilt over Rebecca's death and his belief that he no longer deserves Callie Rose leads him to estrange himself from her, but they reunite months later. Sephy and Nathan marry, and she is pregnant with a son, Troy, by Callie Rose's next birthday. During the party Tobey and Callie Rose have a huge argument over his continued secrecy regarding the details of his involvement in McAuley's death, and he decides to end his and Callie Rose's relationship for good. Because of this, Tobey has sex with Misty Jackman, who then becomes pregnant and gives birth to Tobey's daughter Libby, and he attempts to have a relationship with her for their child's sake, but it soon collapses. In his resultant depression Tobey briefly joins Nought Forever, the Liberation Militia's spiritual successor, but soon quits. Callie Rose attends law school and later works for prominent lawyer Solomon Camden, becoming one of the best barristers in the country.

Tobey pursues a career in politics and is aided and bankrolled by Dan Jeavons, now a powerful gangster. He uses his growing fortune to financially support Misty and Libby, but Misty refuses to let him see their daughter, conceals his identity from Libby, and gradually spends Libby's entire trust fund. She becomes an alcohol and drug addict, and abuses Libby, who struggles with anxiety and begins self-harming. Troy and Libby become friends, but after a brief romance, their relationship sours and they become bitter rivals. Nathan is killed in a hit-and-run, leaving Sephy and Troy devastated. Over the next two years Sonny returns to Sephy's life and they resume their relationship, but Troy discovers what appears to be the same car that killed Nathan on Sonny's land, leaving him convinced that Sonny murdered his father.

Finally learning her father's identity, Libby disowns Misty and contacts Tobey. With Dan's help Tobey is elected as the first Nought Prime Minister, but Dan is later murdered at a party attended by Tobey, Sephy and Owen Dowd, amongst others. Tobey is arrested for the crime and enlists Callie Rose to defend him, and they later have an ill-advised one-night stand, but she is repulsed to learn of his past affiliation with Nought Forever. When she threatens to drop him as a client, he blackmails her into continuing to defend him by threatening to reveal their affair to her employers. Unwilling to lose the financial support Tobey has been providing as a result of the rift between her and Libby, Misty abducts Libby and Troy, holding them hostage to extort more money. However several of Dan's former enforcers murder Misty and take the teenagers captive themselves, demanding that Callie Rose drop Tobey as a client and that he pleads guilty. In an effort to get Callie Rose to comply with the kidnappers' demands, Tobey tells her that Sephy murdered Dan, and that he covered for her by planting evidence to make himself appear guilty. Despite this revelation and the danger to Libby and Troy, Callie Rose continues to defend Tobey, who pleads his innocence as the trial begins. In response the kidnappers decide to leave Libby and Troy to die, sealing them in their cellar prison.

Endgame

Endgame

Endgame Front Cover
Author	Malorie Blackman
Language	English
Series	Noughts & Crosses Saga
Genre	Young adult fiction
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	16/09/2021
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	480 pages
ISBN	978-0-241-44399-6
Preceded by	Crossfire

A sixth and final instalment, Endgame, was released on September 16, 2021. The book picks up immediately after the events of Crossfire, while containing flashbacks to the night of Dan Jeavons' murder.

As Tobey and Callie Rose form an uneasy truce to track down Troy and Libby, the true mastermind behind the original kidnapping plot tries to retrieve the teens from Dan's former enforcers and resume the original scheme to extort money from Tobey. Determined to prove her innocence and save Troy, and to make up for her inability to protect Callum, Sephy hunts for Dan's murderer herself.

Novellas

Callum

The novella changes the ending of Noughts and Crosses and was published for World Book Day 2012.

Callum decides to let Sephy flee from the other kidnappers while they are out. While he shows her the way back to town, Sephy badly injures her foot. He talks her into spending the night with her in an abandoned shack for her to recover. There, they argue but then realise their mutual love. They decide to run away together. They fall asleep after making love.

The two are surprised by the rest of the gang. Jude and Callum point their guns at each other. Sephy takes advantage of the confusion to flee. Jude and Callum point their guns at each other, and the story ends with Callum and Jude shooting themselves/each other. But neither of them die, since their deaths occur later on.

An Eye For an Eye

The novella gives an insight into the events of Knife Edge. Written for World Book Day 2003, it has been republished in a new edition of Noughts & Crosses. An Eye For an Eye describes one evening while Sephy is pregnant with Callie Rose when her sister, Minerva, visits her. Minerva offers to patch up things with Jasmine, but Sephy tries to get Minerva to leave. As Sephy had feared after being followed by Jude for a few days, he arrives, planning to murder Sephy.

Jude, Callum's older brother, watches Sephy enter her apartment building, and he plans to kill her. However, he does not know that Minerva is also in Sephy's apartment.

Sephy tells Jude that she knew that he intended to kill her just before midnight since it was Callum's birthday that day. Jude feels that Sephy is responsible for Callum's death and wants to make sure that Sephy will not see Callum's next birthday since Callum had not seen his next birthday. Sephy is not alarmed and does not protest, but Minerva panics. Sephy tells Jude that he would be doing her a favour by killing her and wants to die because she misses Callum. When Minerva tries to change her mind, Sephy declares that she hates the baby because it was alive and that Callum should be alive instead. That is a lie, and Sephy later threatens to kill Jude if he ever hurts her child.

Sephy begins to provoke Jude by saying that she and Callum loved each other and Kamal offered her a choice of keeping the baby and letting Callum be hanged or getting an abortion and saving his life. Jude loses his temper and tries to shoot Sephy, but his gun jams. Minerva, in an attempt to save Sephy and herself, runs towards the front door and screams to attract attention. That fails, and Jude shoots her in the shoulder. Jude realises that Sephy wants to die. He decides that since killing her would only do her a favour, he will make her suffer instead.

Jude gives Sephy permission to call an ambulance for Minerva and tells her that he knows she cares about her sister and her family, especially her child. He then tells her that he plans to use her baby to hurt her. Sephy threatens to kill him if he hurts her child, but she later pleads with Jude to leave both of them alone. Jude leaves just as the ambulance arrives, with a new plan in mind. Sephy makes Minerva lie about her injuries.

Nought Forever

A World Book Day release in 2019, and a prequel to Crossfire. Following on from the events of Double Cross, a fugitive Dan is mortally wounded by McAuley's former enforcers, and is forced to hide out with a nurse, Eva, whose daughter Avalon committed suicide three years earlier after being drawn into drug addiction and prostitution by McAuley. Though she hides Dan from the criminals hunting him, Eva debates whether to continue sheltering him or turn him in to the police. The novella concludes without revealing the outcome of her decision, but Crossfire suggests that Eva continued to hide Dan but ultimately convinced him to turn himself in, and remained a friend and mother figure to him during his imprisonment and his later career as a gangster.

Characters

The characters from all books from the series are as follows:

Primary characters

• Persephone Mira Hadley: the co-protagonist of Noughts & Crosses and Knife Edge, and a supporting character in Checkmate and Double Cross. Nicknamed Sephy, the daughter of a powerful cross, Kamal Hadley. She was childhood best friends with Callum despite their different backgrounds, and she eventually falls in love with him. After a few years have passed without contact, Callum kidnaps her, but they end up sleeping together and have a daughter, Callie Rose, who is raised by Sephy and Meggie after Callum is killed. She starts to have feelings for bandmate Sonny. However, she starts dating a wealthy cross, Nathan. Sonny reveals his love for her at the end of the book and proposes, but Sephy turns him down. Nathan also proposes, Sephy accepts, and they plan to get married and at the end they do.
• Callum McGregor: the co-protagonist of Noughts & Crosses. A nought who is best friends and later lovers with Sephy. He is the brother of Lynette, who has a mental illness and eventually commits suicide, but only he knows that it was not an accident because of a letter that she left him. He is one of the few noughts to get into Sephy's elite school, proving his intelligence, but he suffers discrimination against him. After losing contact with Sephy, he works for the LM and helps them kidnap her. He, however, gets his old feelings back and ends up sleeping with her and then letting her escape. Callum is the father of Sephy's child, but he is hanged for his involvement in Sephy's kidnapping before Callie Rose is born.
• Jude McGregor: the co-protagonist of Knife Edge, the main antagonist of Checkmate and a secondary antagonist in Noughts & Crosses. Callum's older brother, who holds a grudge against Sephy, who he believes to be responsible for his brother's death. He hates all crosses but becomes romantically inclined towards a cross, Cara, to use her for her money. Despite his best efforts, he starts to have genuine feelings for Cara, but the resultant confusion and his conflicting emotions ultimately prove too much. He ends up beating her to death and taking all her money. He later attempts to use Callie Rose to get back at Sephy, by training her to be a terrorist, but his plan backfires when Jasmine takes the bomb and activates it in his hotel room. Before he is killed in the bomb blast, he finally admits his feelings for Cara to himself, as she is the last thing he sees before he is killed.
• Callie Rose McGregor: the protagonist of Checkmate and a supporting character in Knife Edge and Double Cross. The daughter of Callum and Sephy. Her father died before she was born. She resents her mother for keeping her father's identity a secret from her whole life, and she joins the LM after being manipulated by her uncle, Jude. She intended to blow herself and Kamal up, but Jasmine manipulates the situation by stealing the bomb and locking her in the cellar with Sephy in a successful plan for them to make up. She enters a relationship with Tobey, her nought friend, mirroring the unlikely relationship between her parents. Both she and Tobey go on to study law at university.
• Tobias Durbridge: the protagonist of Double Cross and a supporting character in Checkmate. Nicknamed Tobey, Callie Rose's friend often teases her, getting her into deeper trouble than he anticipated. He then gets involved with a dangerous gang but turns against it after Callie Rose is shot by one of the members, putting her in a coma. He manages to kill the leader, Alex McAuley, and then bring the whole gang down in retaliation. Tobey and Callie Rose become a couple and both go on to study law at university.

Secondary characters

• Jasmine Dharma Ninah Adyebe-Hadley: Sephy and Minerva's mother, who became an alcoholic. She used to be good friends with Ryan and Meggie McGregor, as Meggie used to work for her. She is diagnosed with breast cancer and, drinking less than before, commits suicide by activating a bomb, killing Jude in the process to protect Sephy and Callie Rose.
• Kamal Hadley: the main antagonist of Noughts & Crosses and a secondary antagonist in Knife Edge. A powerful, avaricious cross Home Office Minister who will do anything to gain more power and influence. He is the father of Sephy and Minerva and the grandfather of Callie Rose, but he disowns Sephy and Callie Rose. He divorces Jasmine after an unhappy marriage and remarries. A letter sent by Jasmine sent to the media ends his power.
• Minerva "Minnie" Hadley: Sephy's older sister, whom Sephy often calls "Minnie" to annoy her. She and Sephy are not very close, as Minnie is often shown to be quite selfish. She marries an affluent cross, Zuri, and they have a son, Taj.
• Lynette McGregor: Callum's older sister, who has a mental disorder after an attack she received from a group of noughts for dating a cross. She believes that she is a cross like her ex-boyfriend. She has lost touch with reality. She eventually commits suicide by stepping out in front of a bus, but only Callum knows that it was not an accident.
• Ryan McGregor: Callum's father, who is killed trying to escape from prison after the Dundale bombing.
• Meggie McGregor: Callum's mother, who had been Sephy's nanny until Jasmine fired her. She convinces Sephy to move in with her and is very close to Callie Rose. However, a threat to call social services about Callie Rose estranges Sephy from her. Throughout the series, her husband dies in trying to escape from prison, her daughter commits suicide because of mental illness, her younger son is publicly hanged and her older son is blown up in a suicide attempt by her former friend.
• Lucas Cheshie: Callie's ex-boyfriend, a cross. His sister used to be a friend of Callie Rose. Also, he has a racist father.
• Rebecca Dowd: Vanessa Dowd's daughter. She is a rich cross who makes her money from drugs, illegal shipments and more. She briefly dates Tobey after falling in love with him but is killed by Alex McCauley, the Dowd family's archenemy. She is very lonely and Tobey loves her, unlike other boys, for reasons other than her family and her money. However, Tobey remains in love with Callie Rose.
• Dowd family: A powerful cross family owning half of the city and the enemy of Alex McCauley's gang.
• Dan: Tobey's friend, who uses Tobey's desperate financial situation to introduce him to gang life.
• Cara Imega: A kind-hearted cross who falls in love with Jude. She campaigns against discrimination towards noughts. Although Jude wants to take her money, he eventually falls in love with her as well. He becomes so confused about his feelings that he follows through with his original plan. He beats her to death and steals all her money. Just before Jasmine detonates the bomb against Jude, the only person he thinks of and sees is Cara, with her hand outstretched.
• Sonny: A member of Sephy's band. Starts to go out with Sephy, but Sephy decides to end their relationship. They have feelings for each other.
• Nathan: The owner of a restaurant in which Sephy starts to sing. They realise that they have feelings for each other and plan to get married.

Audio books

Audio books have been made from the novels in the series as follows:

• Noughts and Crosses (unabridged) - narrated by Sian Blake and Paul Chequer
• Noughts and Crosses (abridged) - narrated by Nina Sosanya and Nigel Greaves
• Knife Edge (abridged) - narrated by Nina Sosanya, John Hasler and Joan Walker
• Checkmate (abridged) - narrated by Nina Sosanya, John Hasler, Joan Walker and Adjoa Andoh
• Double Cross (abridged) - narrated by Nigel Pilkington, Nicole Davis and Joan Walker
• Crossfire (unabridged) - narrated by Vivienne Acheampong, Josh Dylan and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett

Adaptations

Stage

The first book, Noughts & Crosses, was retitled Black & White and was adapted and directed for the Royal Shakespeare Company by former RSC Associate Dominic Cooke, with Richard Madden and Ony Uhiara in the lead roles of Callum and Sephy. The play garnered positive reviews, with Blackman herself saying that she "knew it was in really safe hands". It toured the UK from February to April 2008.

A second theatre adaptation of the first book titled Noughts and Crosses premiered at Derby Theatre in February 2019, and toured the UK. This stage version is adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz and directed by Esther Richardson for Pilot Theatre.

The first book was also the subject of the last edition in February 2012 of BBC Radio 4's "Saturday Drama".

Television

Main article: Noughts + Crosses

In August 2016, the BBC announced that Noughts & Crosses would be dramatised for television. Being Human creator Toby Whithouse was involved in overseeing the scripts. Jay Z's company Roc Nation and Participant Media were executive producers for the series. In November 2018, it was announced Masali Baduza and Jack Rowan were cast as Sephy Hadley and Callum McGregor respectively. The first episode aired on BBC One on 5 March 2020, with the entire series made available on BBC iPlayer immediately afterwards. It is available in America on the Peacock streaming service.

Critical reception

On 5 November 2019 BBC News included Noughts & Crosses on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels.

The Guardian ranked Noughts & Crosses #88 in its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

Awards and nominations

• 2002, Lancashire Children's Book of the Year.
• 2002, Red House Children's Book Award.
• 2002, Sheffield Children's Book Award.
• 2003, Wirral Paperback of the Year Award.
• 2004, Fantastic Fiction Award.
• 2005, Berkshire Book Award (shortlist).
• 2005, Lancashire Children's Book of the Year (shortlist).
• 2005, Redbridge Teenage book Award (shortlist).
• 2006, Lancashire Children's Book of the Year (shortlist).
• 2006, Staffordshire Young People's Book of the Year.

See also

Fable (1965 TV play)

External links

• Noughts & Crosses at Malorie Blackman's official website
• Knife Edge at Malorie Blackman's official website
• Checkmate at Malorie Blackman's official website
• Double Cross at Malorie Blackman's official website
• Malorie Blackman's plot description of Noughts & Crosses at meettheauthor.com