“You’re a nought and I’m a Cross and there’s nowhere for us to be, nowhere for us to go where we’d be left in peace.”
This is a quotation from Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman – a novel which uses fiction to address issues of racism andinequality. The story is set in an imagined society where dark-skinned people, called Crosses, are the ruling class. White people are called noughts and were once enslaved.
Sephy (a Cross) and Callum (a Nought) have known each other their whole lives. In their teens, they begin a secret romance, but relationships between noughts and Crosses are discouraged. Noughts and Crosses usually live separately and attend separate schools, but when Callum becomes one of the first noughts to attend a mixed school (the school Sephy goes to) their relationship is seriously tested.
Then, Callum’s family life begins to fall apart – his sister, Lynette, dies. Soon afterwards, Callum discovers his Dad, Ryan,and his elder brother, Jude, are members of the Liberation Militia – a group using violent methods to fight for equal rights fornoughts. After Sephy goes away to boarding school, Callum finds himself facing so many pressures in his life that he also joins thegroup.
When, years later, a kidnapping plot brings Sephy and Callum back into each other’s lives, they find they still love eachother. But will they be able to find a way to be together?
Sephy is smart and courageous – the daughter of a powerful politician. Her relationship with her family, however, is very strained.
Callum is intelligent, ambitious and is often angry at the inequality he and other noughts face. He is sometimes conflicted but, in the end, he finds the courage to stand up for what he believes in.
This book is part of a series by Malorie Blackman that reverses the racial experience, putting dark-skinned people as the rulingclasses over white people. But while the setting may be fictional, there are very strong links to recent and historical events in theUK and across the world.
Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman is a a thought-provoking novel that examines institutional racism and its devastating impact. It’s one of my absolute favourites, you need to read it!
