<P> Noughts & Crosses is a series by English author Malorie Blackman of young adult novels, including two novellas, set in a fictional dystopia . The series describes an alternative history of human evolution in which African people had gained a technological and organisational advantage over the European people, rather than the other way around, with Africans having made Europeans their slaves . The series takes place in an alternate 21st - century Britain . </P> <P> At the time of the series, slavery had been abolished for some time, but segregation, similar to Jim Crow, continues to operate to keep the crosses (Blacks) in control of the noughts (Whites). An international organisation, the Pangaean Economic Community, exists . Seeming to be similar to the United Nations in scope but similar to the European Union in powers, it is playing a role in forcing change by directives and boycotts . </P>

Where is the book noughts and crosses set