Age 12+

Noughts & Crosses, Blackman’s previous novel, created a society in which the upper class (the Crosses) were black and the underclass (the Noughts) were white, as a way of exploring injustice and interracial hostility. Knife Edge sustains this daring and ingenious device to powerful effect. The author calls it “a book about hate”, while the first volume, for all its darkness, was “about love”. Knife Edge takes up the Romeo-and-Juliet story of the Cross girl in love with the Nought boy, opening with the birth of their child. The book pulls no punches, and some sections, particularly those narrated by a militant Nought terrorist who cannot let go of his hatred, are shocking, not least in the description of a violent attack on a woman. But although there is much that is brutal here, it is really a cautionary tale about choice and the danger of nursing anger. This makes it a humane story that will help the cause of tolerance. Grounded in prejudices the author has experienced, and in a knowledge of the dangers of racial hatred, it is written with passion, does not condescend and will appeal to teenagers who want to understand grown-up emotions.

(Doubleday £12.99)

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