Read 2006

Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society. Sephy is a Cross—a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought—a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum—a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?

This thought-provoking and often provocative look at racism is a sequel to the award-winning Noughts & Crosses . For fourteen years, Sephy, a singer, struggles to raise her mixed-race child in an apartheid society, telling Callie Rose very little about her father, and trying to make her mark in the music business where she also has to deal with prejudice. But suddenly and dramatically, Callie discovers the truth about her parentage—that her father, Callum, was hanged for terrorism! Can mother and daughter heal the rift that now opens between them? And can Callie ignore the pain of the past as she takes her own steps towards her future? This is a riveting and page-turning novel for ages twelve and up that will confirm Malorie Blackman’s status as one of today’s top authors for young readers. From the Hardcover edition.

Can the future ever erase the past? Rose has a Cross mother and a nought father in a society where the pale-skinned noughts are treated as inferiors and those with dual heritage face a life-long battle against deep-rooted prejudices. Sephy, her mother, has told Rose virtually nothing about her father, but as Rose grows into a young adult, she unexpectedly discovers the truth about her parentage and becomes determined to find out more. But her father's family has a complicated history - one tied up with the fight for equality for the nought population. And as Rose takes her first steps away from Sephy and into this world, she finds herself drawn inexorably into more and more danger. Suddenly it's a game of very high stakes that can only have one winner . . . The powerful third story in the Noughts & Crosses sequence.