Noughts and Crosses is the first in a series of six novels and three novellas by British author Malorie Blackman. The story chronicles the coming-of-age of best friends Sephy Hadley and Callum McGregor. A work of speculative fiction, Noughts and Crosses imagines an alternative history that places native African people in a position of power over those of European descent. Published in 2001, Blackman’s novel employs the alternating perspectives of Sephy and Callum to offer a nuanced glimpse into their journeys into adulthood. The novel was adapted for the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2008 and for television by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2020. Blackman served as the Children’s Laureate for the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2015.

The reader should be aware that the text deals with sensitive topics like suicide, rape, bombings, and racial injustices.

Plot Summary

Three years before Chapter 1 begins, Jasmine Hadley and her servant Meggie McGregor watch their children Sephy Hadley and Callum McGregor play. Mrs. Hadley and Sephy are Crosses, the descendants of native Africans who hold all the power in their society. Mrs. McGregor and Callum are noughts, the descendants of European slaves who once worked under the African colonizers. Their joy watching their children play soon fades as Meggie fails to serve as an alibi for Mrs. Hadley and is terminated. This break in the friendship between the two women separates their children, who are lifelong best friends.

In Chapter 1, Sephy and Callum gather at their secret meeting place, a private beach on Sephy’s property. They have maintained their connection over the years by meeting privately. Callum has gained admission into Sephy’s elite Cross school. He and Sephy prepare for school and share an innocent first kiss. Callum’s mother disapproves of his desire to attend a Cross school, but Callum is proud to be one of four nought students who have gained admission into Heathcroft. He dreams of ascending the ranks of society and becoming successful. His brother Jude resents Callum’s freedom to continue his education because he lost his opportunity to go to school when Meggie was fired. Sephy anxiously prepares for school and overhears her father talking about the rise of the nought Liberation Militia with a mysterious nought man.

Callum’s older sister Lynette has an episode. She believes that she is a Cross. She has not been the same since surviving an accident three years earlier. Callum and Sephy attend the first day of school. There are protests against the integration of nought students outside of Heathcroft. Sephy attempts to stop the protests and uses the derogatory term of blanker. She offends Callum. She later apologizes to Callum, who suggests they avoid each other at school. Callum suspects his father and brother are involved with the Liberation Militia.

The next day at school, Sephy attempts to sit with Callum and the other nought students at lunchtime. A teacher publicly disciplines her for this. Callum does not intervene to help Sephy. He later attempts to apologize to Sephy. The following day, three Cross girls attack Sephy in the bathroom for her relationship with Callum. Callum attempts to visit Sephy every day, but Sephy’s mother denies him entry. Sephy and Callum reunite five days later at the beach. Callum reminds Sephy of their trip to Celebration Park over the summer and how he was mistreated by police officers who questioned his first-class ticket. Through Callum’s sharing of his experiences with discrimination, Sephy starts to become more aware of her privilege as a Cross and Callum’s struggles as a nought.

Jude and Lynette fight over Lynette when she has another episode. Jude derides Lynette for thinking she is better than them by believing she is a Cross. Their father Ryan breaks up the fight and informs Jude and Callum that Lynette’s accident three years ago was an attack by three nought men who targeted her for her relationship with her Cross boyfriend.

Callum struggles to do well at Heathcroft due to the discrimination he faces from the staff and administration. Sephy witnesses her parents fighting and learns that her mother has rejected her father’s son from a previous relationship and has had an affair in the past. Her father moves out of the family home. Lynette and Callum have a profound conversation about Callum’s purpose in life. Lynette warns Callum about being too ambitious. During their next family dinner, Lynette leaves to go on a walk by herself. She never returns. The police arrive and inform the family that Lynette has walked in front of a bus. Callum discovers a letter from his sister that admits her suicide plan. Callum begrudges his sister for giving up on life.

Sephy and her older sister Minnie discover their mother has tried to kill herself by overdosing on pills. Callum attends his sister’s funeral. Sephy attends the funeral unexpectedly. Jude forces her to leave. Despite her recent suicide attempt, Sephy’s mother continues to drink heavily.

Three months pass. Callum’s mother grows more distant. His father and Jude become consumed with their work in the Liberation Militia. Two more months pass. Callum and Sephy make plans to see each other at the local shopping center. Callum learns that the Liberation Militia has planted a bomb at the shopping center. Callum rushes to save Sephy before the bomb detonates. He saves Sephy in time, but seven people die in the explosion.

Callum’s mother confronts her husband and Jude over their involvement with the explosion. As they fight, she breaks one of her fingers. In adherence with a new hospital policy, Jude and Callum leave their fingerprints on file at the hospital while helping their mother. Sephy begins to drink alcohol to fall asleep at night. Callum and Sephy meet at the beach. He confronts her about her drinking. They argue and share a passionate kiss.

Later that night, the police invade Callum’s family home. The police question Callum and his mother about the bombing. They learn that Jude is missing. Callum’s father confesses to the crime to protect Jude, whose fingerprints were found on a soda can near the bomb. As Callum and his mother attempt to find legal representation for his father, Sephy plans to attend boarding school. Callum and his mother retain Mr. Stanhope and Kelani Adams as their attorneys through the generosity of an anonymous benefactor. Sephy watches the news about Ryan McGregor’s arrest and believes in his innocence. The headmaster at Heathcroft suspends Callum during his father’s trial. After confronting the headmaster over his mistreatment of nought students, Callum leaves Heathcroft forever.

Callum attends his father’s trial and testifies. Video surveillance footage implicates Callum’s involvement in the bombing as it shows him at the scene of the explosion. Sephy testifies and lies on the stand to corroborate Callum’s claim that he did not know about the bombing. Callum and his mother move to his aunt’s house to avoid the death threats they have been receiving. The jury finds Ryan McGregor guilty of political terrorism and seven counts of murder and sentences him to death by hanging.

Sephy’s mother and father take her to the execution of Ryan McGregor. She attempts to leave, but her mother forces her to stay. She sees Callum across the prison courtyard. In the seconds before his hanging, Callum’s father receives a reprieve and a new sentence of life imprisonment. Sephy argues with her mother over taking her to the execution. Her mother informs Sephy that she is the anonymous benefactor who paid for Ryan McGregor’s lawyer.

Callum visits Sephy later that day and comes up to her bedroom. They kiss and sleep next to each other through the night. Four days later, Callum’s father dies during an escape attempt from the prison. Callum wanders aimlessly in the months after his father’s passing. His brother Jude appears one day and offers Callum the opportunity to join the Liberation Militia. Callum agrees. Sephy writes Callum a letter asking him to run away with her. She asks him to give her his answer before she leaves for boarding school. She asks her mother’s secretary Sarah to deliver the letter for her. Callum packs to leave for the militia and avoids opening the letter delivered by Sarah. Sephy waits for Callum to join her and escape. When he does not arrive, she leaves to attend boarding school. Callum arrives as Sephy’s car drives off.

Sephy starts over at boarding school. She joins a dissident group and begins to work toward her goal of becoming a lawyer. She hopes to work toward equal rights for noughts. Callum is now a sergeant in the Liberation Militia. He has become colder and is known for having no fear. His brother Jude is assigned to his cell as the new lieutenant.

Sephy returns home after being away for over two years. She receives a letter from Callum asking to meet her at the beach. She arrives and quickly realizes that Callum has set her up to be kidnapped by the Liberation Militia. The cell sends a ransom note to Sephy’s father that threatens to kill her if they are not paid within 24 hours. Sephy begs Callum to let her go. He refuses. A man named Andrew Dorn, second in command to the general of the militia, arrives and orders Callum to kill Sephy if the police arrive. Sephy recognizes Andrew Dorn as the man working with her father years ago.

Left alone, Sephy and Callum begin talking. He confesses his love for her and tells her that he arrived too late the day she left for boarding school. They make passionate love. Jude returns and accuses Callum of raping Sephy. As the brothers fight, Sephy escapes. Callum soon finds Sephy and shows her the way to the road. Sephy tells Callum that Andrew Dorn is an informant for her father.

Callum and Jude separate. Five weeks after her kidnapping, Sephy finds out she is pregnant. Months later, Callum works as a mechanic. Upon hearing the news of Sephy’s pregnancy over the radio, Callum returns to their hometown to see Sephy. They meet in her rose garden and embrace. Sephy tells Callum that she plans to name the baby Ryan after his father or Callie Rose. Soon, the police arrive and arrest Callum.

Callum has been charged with political terrorism and rape. He will be executed. Sephy refuses to get an abortion despite her parents’ demands she terminate the pregnancy. Sephy’s father visits Callum in prison. He offers to save Callum’s life if he admits publicly to raping Sephy. Kamal Hadley hopes this will help convince Sephy to terminate the pregnancy. Callum sacrifices his life to save his child. Sephy’s father offers Sephy the same deal. He offers to save Callum’s life if she agrees to have an abortion. She refuses.

Callum prepares to be hanged. He imagines a better world run by noughts and not by Crosses. He asks the prison guard to deliver a letter to Sephy. The guard leads him to the scaffold. Callum looks for Sephy in the crowd. Before he is killed, he hears Sephy tell him she loves him. He tells her he loves her too. He is killed. The novel ends with the birth announcement of Sephy and Callum’s daughter, Callie Rose McGregor.