I have heard a lot of good things about The List this summer, so was excited to read it. The List tackles a difficult but really interesting and topical subject – men’s abuse of power, sexual misconduct and just how many ‘versions’ of the truth can actually be out there when allegations come to the forefront.
Opening sentence: They had been out celebrating the night before it happened.
Ola and Michael #CoupleGoals
Apparently The List was inspired by something that really happened. There was a list of people in the media doing the rounds that accused them of abuse and sexual misconduct. In her novel, Yomi Adegoke imagines what it would do to your life if you saw your partner’s name on that list.
She was half of a smart, attractive, Black ‘#CoupleGoals’ couple – a rare sight when you reached a certain status, especially in Britain.
When Ola does see her fiancé, Michael, at number 42 on the list, her whole world falls apart. Through Ola, Yomi Adegoke sets up an even more high-contrast situation as Ola has established a career as a journalist who writes for a feminist magazine, Womxxxn, and is part of the movement to call out rotten men in the industry.
Ola’s editor asks her to write a story about the list and this puts her in an awful position – professionally and personally. Her gut is to trust her fiancé but she starts to have doubts. Combined with the pressure of their wedding being less than a month away, and planning in full swing, she feels trapped, unsure and desperate to find out the truth about the man she is about to marry.
Who do you believe?
The structure of The List kept things really enticing as we have POV chapters from both Ola and Michael, so we get to intimately see how this situation is affecting them both. As some secrets do spill out, it’s so interesting to see the different takes by the characters to either justify their actions or share what they believe to be true.
The possibilities troubled her. That he was innocent in his own eyes, but genuinely guilty in those of his accuser.
I whizzed through The List, I just had to know what was going to happen to Ola and Michael! Perfectly paced, it did indeed throw up a few curveballs but I think that really added to the story and heightened the sense of unrest and truth shifting.
The List blended a conversational, engaging tone with a serious topic. It raised questions on the influence of money and power and both the level of abuse in the media that’s not called out and the way lives can be destroyed if, for example, a name is unjustifiably included on a list of abusers. Definitely gives you some things to think about.
- Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC;
- Get your copy of The List here;
- Published by Fourth Estate 20th July 2023;
- 373 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 
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