The List

Product Information

In addition, it's not ideal that the two men we get to hear about that are on The List (Michael and Lewis), have been put there for malicious reasons. This plays into the tired (and incorrect) narrative that women frequently accuse innocent men. I found that quite disappointing, to be honest. Also, we shouldn't only care about abuse if it happens to ourselves, or to those we care about, which is how I felt about Ola's reaction following Celie's disclosure. I think that with more considered editorial work, and some discussion with real victims, this could have been a better book. Yomi Adegoke is a multi-award-winning journalist and author. She is currently a columnist at The Guardian and British Vogue and is the former host of the Women's Fiction Prize podcast.

From ambiguous faux pas to unequivocally abysmal transgressions, we’ve all sat in the peanut gallery, casting aspersions on those who have let us and others down, or callously abused their power, or in some cases, those we couldn’t wait to see take a fall. The List is already being adapted for TV with Adegoke as executive producer. The various cliffhangers and twists suggest it was written with this in mind. It occasionally feels as though she is trying to shoehorn too many characters and subplots into one tale, but we remain invested in her main protagonists’ journey. This nuanced exploration of celebrity culture and online toxicity should win Adegoke new fans. Mowbray, Nicole (11 July 2018). "The women with Slaying power: Publishing sensations Elizabeth Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke". Metro Newspaper UK . Retrieved 10 November 2018. I’d like to do a Normal People-esque Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones type thing – I want to find people who’re incredible and not that famous. Sheila’s too famous and Arinzé has an MBE [laughs]. I haven’t asked yet, but I’d love to involve them in some way because they’re phenomenal, but I really want to launch two new actors, too, and then maybe get someone more established to play Frankie or their parents or something. And finally, I know you’re also working on your next novel now. What can you tell us about it? When you read the book you realize what an addictively bingeable TV show it would make. I know you’re creating and executive producing the series. What’s that been like so far?I can only describe this book as callous. Geez I’m surprised 11 editors bid for this story. Indeed, publishing is highly subjective. Challenging the discourse of victim blaming and online witch hunts, The List doesn’t promise any answers – and it needn’t. What it does do is ask provocative questions, and does so fearlessly, unafraid to wade into the grey, murky waters of abuse and its victims, the annihilation of abusers left at risk to themselves, and unsightly acts of revenge. I wouldn’t say bruised. It’s like putting your hand in a fire. You learn from it. I’ve healed.” We circle around times when an article of hers has gone viral for the wrong reason or there’s been a racist pile-on in the comments section, but she glosses over how much she lets it bother her.

Ola Olajide, a celebrated journalist at Womxxxn magazine, is set to marry the love of her life in one month’s time. Young, beautiful, and successful—she and her fiancé Michael are considered the “couple goals” of their social network and seem to have it all. That is, until one morning when they both wake up to the same message: “Oh my god, have you seen The List?”They’re incredible. So, Sheila and I share a best friend so I’ve known her for years. I’d had her in mind for Ola, specifically for the audio book, basically forever and I’d been meaning to ask her but then she announced she’d be in The Woman King [laughs]. I was like, oh god, her life’s changed and now I’m never going to be able to ask her. Then, I saw her at an event and asked her in passing – I didn’t even finish what I was saying, and she said, “Yomi, I’ll do it.” She’s excellent – her impressions of Frankie, Ola’s boss, are exceptional [laughs]. And Arinzé – [his play] Misty was amazing. I couldn’t stop speaking about it for like two years. Could we see them in the show, or do you have other actors in mind? Sitting across from me at a small round table, glass in one hand and phone in the other, she is a force of personality – charming, chatty, a whirlwind of laughter and hustle – so I don’t mind when it becomes clear that we’re only going to get through about five of my questions in the time she has. Or when she’s straining so hard not to answer directly that she runs us both around a loop of half-thoughts and non sequiturs until I agree that, yes, yes I do know what she means. Ola Olajide, a high-profile journalist, is marrying the love of her life in one month’s time. Young, beautiful, successful – she and her fiancé Michael seem to have it all. Compulsively written, Yomi Adegoke’s debut has all the tension and build of a thriller, but swaps its typical tropes and themes and instead delves into the depths of race, infidelity, cancel culture in the wake of the Me Too movement, and virtue signalling.

Young, beautiful, successful – she and her fiancé Michael are the ‘couple goals’ of their social networks and seem to have it all. I’d written the first nine chapters [of the book] before I had my first meeting with HBO,” she explains, talking me through the secretive process she underwent for months before she was allowed to tell anyone. “I thought the storyline really had TV potential, so I talked to Hayley [her agent] about it.” The List is uncomfortable in the way it bends the beliefs we would otherwise announce with conviction. It is the kind of book to send you in a tailspin, all while being utterly readable and absorbing. It’s probably not how Adegoke’s publisher would like their bright young star to be promoting her literary career. After all, The List, due later this month, is arriving with much fanfare and is one of the most anticipated books of the summer. But Adegoke, 31, is refreshingly self-assured, unafflicted by the self-doubt and low self-esteem that has become a millennial tic.

The book is about the wrongdoings of men being exposed, but also the perils of cancel culture. Were you ever worried about tackling topics that are so thorny?

The List is the debut novel that everyone is talking about, from Yomi Adegoke, co-author of Slay in Your Lane. We meet in the bar of a plush Wes Andersonified hotel, set in 200 acres of green fields in deepest Croydon, where Adegoke is a founding member of its club. Dressed in a white prairie dress and wearing architectural earrings, she is glamorously post-photoshoot and pre-party. There’s an event for Central Saint Martins fashion graduates that she’ll be popping into later. The night before, I bumped into her at a book launch for a friend before she headed off to a party hosted by Mulberry. You can also use the external lift near the Artists' Entrance on Southbank Centre Square to reach Mandela Walk, Level 2.

Topical, heartfelt, provocative and wise, Yomi Adegoke’s characters are tenderly realized . . . the entire cast of this ultimate millennial novel springs vividly to life.” — Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other One morning, with weeks to go before their wedding, the couple wake up to texts and tweets about a list detailing allegation after allegation against prominent men – including Michael. For well-known feminist writer Ola, known for breaking stories about similar abuses of power, the tug between holding on to her moral compass and trusting her partner becomes all-consuming. Yes and no. It would be intellectually dishonest to say one or the other. It’s more diverse than it was when I made that statement, so it has changed in that regard. We are seeing a push towards more books written by, say, minoritised authors. But does that mean those authors are necessarily given the freedom to write about anything, or is there a push for writers of a particular identity to write to that identity?” Bizarre [ laughs]. I literally never wanted to do TV again—I had a really difficult experience a couple of years ago with TV, but A24 were so encouraging and supportive and wanted me to be involved. It’s really early days now, but it’s been so exciting discussing it and making a start.It makes us question where do we draw the boundaries. To what extent is it morally right to reveal things on social media. What happens when intent and results do not match?.