and which will have shocking repercussions for generations to come. Then - in spite of a world that is fiercely against them - these star-crossed lovers choose each other.īut this is love story that will lead both of them into terrible danger. Noughts and Crosses are fated to be bitter enemies - love is out of the question. They've been friends since they were children, and they both know that's as far as it can ever go.

But she's lonely, and burns with injustice at the world she sees around her.Ĭallum is a nought: he's considered to be less than nothing - a blanker, there to serve Crosses - but he dreams of a better life. Sephy is a Cross: she lives a life of privilege and power.

'Stop it! You're all behaving like animals! Worse than animals - like blankers!' really spoke to me, especially as a woman of dual heritage.' ZAWE ASHTON 'The most original book I've ever read' BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH What Malorie Blackman has always done so brilliantly is put the minority front and centre, both in society and politics.' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS

'Malorie's Noughts & Crosses series is the first time I saw myself in a book. This book really drums home the freedoms that we should all have a right to, but don’t.'The Noughts & Crosses series are still my favourite books of all time and showed me just how amazing story-telling could be' STORMZY Whilst I could read about this in an informative, intellectual way, to actually experience that inbuilt stereotyping in myself was very powerful. Most striking to me, was how I struggled to see the Noughts as white and the Crosses as Black- this was a hard hit home about the power of what I have watched, read and seen all around me since growing up- how it is part of my subconscious, whether I like it or not. There is a lot in the context to absorb and think about. I read this book in two days - I had the ability to get immersed in it and it is one of those books where you keep wanting to read to find out what will happen to the characters next. I was discussing Ghost Boys and Two Sisters: A Story of Freedom and she suggested this book next (followed by the BBC drama for the visuals). I was led to read this book by my friend who is a Secondary English Teacher.

Noughts and crosses audio book