Checkmate
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  • Published: 6 September 2007
  • ISBN: 9781407041742
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 6 hr 53 min
  • Narrators: Adjoa Andoh, Joan Walker, John Hasler, Nicole Davis, Nina Sosanya
  • RRP: $24.99

Checkmate

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Sep 2010
Audiobook
6 Sep 2007
Paperback
19 Jun 2017
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Perfect for fans of The Handmaid's Tale and The Power, Checkmate is the incredible third novel in iconic author Malorie Blackman's ground-breaking four-part YA series, Noughts & Crosses.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Checkmate by Malorie Blackman.
My name is Callie Rose.
My mum is a Cross - one of the so-called ruling elite.
My dad was a Nought. My dad was a murderer. My dad was a terrorist.
These facts are the only things that are mine and real. So I don't mind so much that I'm leaving it all behind. There's nothing here worth holding onto.

Sixteen years have passed since Sephy Hadley first met Callum McGregor. For Callie Rose, growing up mixed race in a world where bitter prejudice divides Noughts and Crosses has meant she's an outsider wherever she turns.

Enter Jude McGregor. Jude teaches Callie about her real family history, and the more she learns the more he persuades her where her loyalties really lie.

But soon Callie is caught in a trap she can't get out of - one which will have deadly consequences.

Voted as one of the UK's best-loved books, Malorie Blackman's Noughts & Crosses series is a seminal piece of YA fiction; a true modern classic.

'Dramatic, intensely moving' Carousel
'Another emotional hard-hitter' Sunday Times
  • Published: 6 September 2007
  • ISBN: 9781407041742
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 6 hr 53 min
  • Narrators: Adjoa Andoh, Joan Walker, John Hasler, Nicole Davis, Nina Sosanya
  • RRP: $24.99
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About the author

Malorie Blackman

Malorie Blackman has written over seventy books for children and young adults, including the Noughts & Crosses series, Thief and a science-fiction thriller, Chasing the Stars. Many of her books have also been adapted for stage and television, including a BAFTA-award-winning BBC production of Pig-Heart Boy and a Pilot Theatre stage adaptation by Sabrina Mahfouz of Noughts & Crosses. There is also a major BBC production of Noughts & Crosses, with Roc Nation (Jay-Z’s entertainment company) curating the soundtrack as executive music producer. In 2005 Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children’s books. In 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature, and between 2013 and 2015 she was the Children’s Laureate. Most recently Malorie wrote for the Doctor Who series on BBC One, and the fifth novel in her Noughts & Crosses series, Crossfire, was published by Penguin Random House Children’s in summer 2019.

portrait photo of Malorie Blackman

Also by Malorie Blackman

Just Sayin'
Penguin Readers Level 5: Boys Don't Cry (ELT Graded Reader)
Penguin Readers Level 4: Pig-Heart Boy (ELT Graded Reader)
Endgame
We're Going to Find the Monster
Blueblood
Crossfire
See all

Praise for Checkmate

Thought-provoking brilliance

The Sunday Times

Complex but beautifully crafted . . . dramatic, intensely moving . . . it truly ensnares the reader

Carousel

A perfect end to an important and thought-provoking trilogy

Sarah Harbon, The Bookseller

Checkmate once again explores the lasting impact of prejudice, discrimination and the legacy of traumatic family history on the next generation in the author's brilliantly imagined world. Readers will not be dissapointed

Publishing News

There is no mistaking the genuine grassroots passion with which Checkmate, the final part of Malorie Blackman's trilogy, has been anticipated among young teen readers . . . Blackman is a terrific thriller writer, driving her plots forward with skill and tenacity

Dinah Hall, Evening Standard
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