Noughts And Crosses

The privileged Cross daughter of politician Kamal Hadley and his wife Jasmine, Persephone maintains a lifelong friendship with her best friend, Callum McGregor, a nought. Naïve, Sephy begins the novel at 13 years old and still deeply enmeshed in Cross society. Throughout the novel, she grows up and develops a deeper understanding of the complex society in which she is raised. The choice of name for this main character recalls Persephone of the Greek myths, who became Hades’ wife and spent half the year in Hell and half the year on earth. When she was in the underworld, the world was dark and cold and became known as autumn and winter. When she is on earth everything is warm and flourishes, which is the spring and summer. Sephy too lives straddled between the world of the Crosses and of the noughts, and her movement between the two worlds has major effects on both.

Through her interactions with Callum, Sephy learns more about the harsh realities of life for those less privileged than her. Her love for Callum drives Sephy to take action to try and unite Crosses and noughts. However, these choices are often misguided at best. She considers only her limited perspective and places Callum and herself at risk. She shows no interest in her father’s career because she has “grown up with politics, politics, politics being rammed down my throat” and is not “interested in being caught up in it in any manner, shape, or form” (70). When Callum’s family is at the center of the trial of the century, Sephy soon recognizes how her upbringing has blinded her. She rebels against the wishes of her restrictive family and takes action to protect herself. She creates a new life for herself at boarding school and discovers her greater purpose to become a lawyer and help fight against the inequalities she has witnessed firsthand as Callum’s best friend. After a tumultuous relationship marred by tragedy, Sephy and Callum finally reunite. She becomes pregnant with his child and chooses to disown her family to keep their child alive. She ends the novel an 18-year-old adult who understands the true meaning of sacrifice.