When we contemplate the reasons why we can’t put down certain books, thoughts of complex characters, juicy plots and compelling themes we can’t wait to “dish” about typically come to mind. With her debut solo novel, The List, award-winning journalist and best-selling author Yomi Adegoke unquestionably embraces these features and so much more. And you are guaranteed to be hooked from the very first page.
Following the success of Slay in Your Lane, The Offline Diaries and Loud Black Girls, out now, The List narrates the crumbling of a British Black couple’s relationship after the boyfriend’s name is included in an anonymous online spreadsheet that lists the names of sexual predators and abusers.
The story follows Ola, a British-Nigerian journalist, well known for her late-breaking, high-profile #MeToo stories and her fiancée, Michael (a podcaster — he recently landed an exceedingly coveted job at a men’s digital content platform), in the events leading up to their wedding. In spite of the list of “abusers” swirling the internet, Michael insists he is innocent and Ola is left to deal with the accusation and the fallout.
As their wedding day approaches, the story takes readers on an open-mouthed, suspense-filled ride through agitated work meetings, wild parties, dress fittings and legal counsel appointments, all centered around alluringly curated lifestyles, social media influencers and ‘cancel culture.’ When the big day finally arrives, the jaw-dropping twists and turns and encounters are too close to turn away.
Inspired by real-life lists of the same accounts, those that include a crowdsourced spreadsheet in which unnamed individuals accused men in the United States media industry of sexual misconduct in 2017 and similar records coming out in Britain around the same time, Adegoke actually saw one of those lists in 2018 when she was working for The Pool (an online women’s magazine — they’re no longer in business). In a recent interview, the British novelist shares how initially happy she was to know that people were being held accountable for their heinous offenses, as they are often ‘excused’ in many situations. But as she dove deeper into investigative details and accounts, she became a bit skeptical and questioned whether these online anonymous lists were indeed fair, considering how effortless it is to weaponize namelessness on the internet.
This compelling incredulity is ingrained in The List, an instant bestseller both in Britain and here in the U.S. and is now in development for TV by HBO Max, the BBC and A24, a no-surprising conclusion to an 11-way auction of the book’s publishing rights and 17-way bidding war for its TV rights. “I know it’s a nuanced, knotty subject, which makes it slightly uncomfortable to read,” Adegoke explained to The New York Times. But she added her intent is to inspire more dialogue about how sexual assault claims are handled in today’s internet age, and how women can be better protected from abusive men.
The #MeToo movement has radically changed how the public sees and reacts to sexual assault allegations, and its strong effects continue today. Men, including R. Kelly and Harvey Weinstein, were met with intense judgment and public opinion, and the accusations of sexual wrongdoings among prominent figures are ongoing — most recently, the comedian Russel Brand in Britain. While writing the book, Adegoke (she has a decade-long career in journalism and her writing has examined the intricacies of the affairs surrounding feminism, sexism and race in politics and popular culture) worried about the public’s reaction at first but became more self-assured in its objective as it neared publication. Although the book is a cinematic, fictional piece of literature, Adegoke uses it to highlight the extreme importance of the #MeToo movement and its support for survivors of sexual violence, but the story also exposes the movement’s more vulnerable sides, where reckless online shaming and false anonymous claims that could destroy lives.
“I feel like understanding that a movement can absolutely have the greatest aims and simultaneously be weaponized by bad actors, isn’t undermining that movement,” Adegoke says. “It’s asking important questions about ethics.”
The List is available for sale at all major retailers, including the following Black-owned bookstores:
