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Sephy Hadley
Sephy and Minnie’s mother and Mr. Hadley’s wife is a wealthy Cross woman. She demands total loyalty from her nought staff (in the prologue, she fires Meggie for not corroborating an alibi in front of Mr. Hadley, but Meggie had no way to know what she was expected to say) and perfection from her daughters. For this, Sephy resents her mother, and she feels like Mother doesn’t care about her. Some of this Sephy attributes to Mother’s problems with alcohol. Sephy never sees Mother without a glass of white wine, and she believes that alcohol can make Mother happy in a way that Sephy and Minnie will never be able to. Though Sephy never gets to know her mother very well, she does become aware that Mother is deeply unhappy. Mother and Mr. Hadley’s marriage has been unsupportive and volatile from the start, when Mother refused to let Mr. Hadley bring a son he had with another woman into the house. At some point, Mother had an affair, supposedly to attract Mr. Hadley’s attention—but all that did was anger him and make him more physically and verbally abusive toward her. During the novel, Mother becomes so unhappy and depressed that she attempts to kill herself by taking sleeping pills, though it’s also suggested that Mother does this for attention and not actually to take her own life. In the months after she returns home from the hospital, Mother becomes clingier and more emotional with her daughters—and she also secretly funds Ryan’s legal fight when he’s accused of carrying out a bombing on a local mall. When Sephy finds out about this, Mother insists that Meggie and Ryan were her friends and she doesn’t want to see them die. This, however, reflects Mother’s privilege and her incomplete grasp of race relations: Meggie insists that she and Mother were never actually friends, as the power difference between them was too great. When it’s revealed that Sephy is pregnant, Mother joins her husband in trying to convince Sephy to get an abortion.
Mrs. Hadley/Mother Quotes in Noughts and Crosses
The Noughts and Crosses quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Hadley/Mother or refer to Mrs. Hadley/Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
“Honestly, Mrs. Hadley,” said Meggie McGregor, wiping her eyes. “That sense of humor of yours will be the death of me yet!”
Jasmine Hadley allowed herself a rare giggle. “The things I tell you, Meggie. It’s lucky we’re such good friends!”
Meggie’s smile wavered only slightly. She looked out across the vast lawn at Callum and Sephy. Her son and her employer’s daughter. They were good friends playing together. Real good friends. No barriers. No boundaries. Not yet anyway.
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Chapter 33
Quotes
“What’re you talking about? She’s got friends dripping out of cupboards,” I scoffed.
“Not close ones. Not real friends that she can tell anything and everything to.”
“She’s probably driven them all away with her funny moods, […] If I didn’t have to live in the same house as her I wouldn’t put up with her either.”
“She’s lonely,” said Minnie.
“Why doesn’t she just go out and make some new friends then?” I asked.
Minnie smiled, one of her superior smiles that instantly ruffled my feathers. “You’re very young, Sephy.”
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Chapter 55
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“Sephy, don’t follow your mother, okay? She’s headed for a mental home—or a coffin. Is that really what you want?”
That made me start and no mistake. Was that really where Mother was going? I didn’t want her to die like that. I didn’t want to die like that. I regarded Callum, seeing myself as he must see me. A silly, pathetic child who thought that drinking was a way to grow older faster.
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Chapter 65
Quotes
“Who’re you trying to convince? Me or yourself?”
And then I did the last thing either of us expected. I burst into tears. My sister put her arm around me then, allowing my head to rest on her shoulder—which just made me feel worse.
“Minerva, I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to, before I explode.”
“Don’t worry. I’m working on it with Dad.”
“Yeah, for yourself. But what about me?”
“No, I’m working on Dad for both of us,” said Minnie.
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Chapter 77
Quotes
“You stupid girl. Who d’you think paid for their lawyer and all their legal fees?” Mother took hold of my shoulders and shook me. “I prayed and paid and did everything I could to make sure that Ryan wouldn’t hang. What more could I have done? You tell me.”
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Chapter 113
Quotes
“No, he just raped you and made you pregnant instead,” Dad said bitterly.
“Kamal, please—,” Mother began.
“Callum didn’t rape me. He didn’t.”
“But you’re pregnant, so he must’ve.” Mother frowned.
“I’m pregnant because we made love to each other,” I shouted angrily.
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Get the entire Noughts and Crosses LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mrs. Hadley/Mother Quotes in Noughts and Crosses
The Noughts and Crosses quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Hadley/Mother or refer to Mrs. Hadley/Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Prologue
Quotes
“Honestly, Mrs. Hadley,” said Meggie McGregor, wiping her eyes. “That sense of humor of yours will be the death of me yet!”
Jasmine Hadley allowed herself a rare giggle. “The things I tell you, Meggie. It’s lucky we’re such good friends!”
Meggie’s smile wavered only slightly. She looked out across the vast lawn at Callum and Sephy. Her son and her employer’s daughter. They were good friends playing together. Real good friends. No barriers. No boundaries. Not yet anyway.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33
Quotes
“What’re you talking about? She’s got friends dripping out of cupboards,” I scoffed.
“Not close ones. Not real friends that she can tell anything and everything to.”
“She’s probably driven them all away with her funny moods, […] If I didn’t have to live in the same house as her I wouldn’t put up with her either.”
“She’s lonely,” said Minnie.
“Why doesn’t she just go out and make some new friends then?” I asked.
Minnie smiled, one of her superior smiles that instantly ruffled my feathers. “You’re very young, Sephy.”
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 55
Quotes
“Sephy, don’t follow your mother, okay? She’s headed for a mental home—or a coffin. Is that really what you want?”
That made me start and no mistake. Was that really where Mother was going? I didn’t want her to die like that. I didn’t want to die like that. I regarded Callum, seeing myself as he must see me. A silly, pathetic child who thought that drinking was a way to grow older faster.
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Chapter 65
Quotes
“Who’re you trying to convince? Me or yourself?”
And then I did the last thing either of us expected. I burst into tears. My sister put her arm around me then, allowing my head to rest on her shoulder—which just made me feel worse.
“Minerva, I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to, before I explode.”
“Don’t worry. I’m working on it with Dad.”
“Yeah, for yourself. But what about me?”
“No, I’m working on Dad for both of us,” said Minnie.
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Chapter 77
Quotes
“You stupid girl. Who d’you think paid for their lawyer and all their legal fees?” Mother took hold of my shoulders and shook me. “I prayed and paid and did everything I could to make sure that Ryan wouldn’t hang. What more could I have done? You tell me.”
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Chapter 113
Quotes
“No, he just raped you and made you pregnant instead,” Dad said bitterly.
“Kamal, please—,” Mother began.
“Callum didn’t rape me. He didn’t.”
“But you’re pregnant, so he must’ve.” Mother frowned.
“I’m pregnant because we made love to each other,” I shouted angrily.
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