Fourth Estate wins 11-way auction for Adegoke's 'sensational' debut novel

Fourth Estate has triumphed in an 11-publisher auction for Yomi Adegoke’s "entertaining and daring" debut novel.

Kishani Widyaratna, editorial director, secured UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada, with exclusive Europe and audio rights, to The List from Hayley Steed at The Madeleine Milburn Agency in a major two-book deal. US rights went to Jessica Williams at William Morrow in an "aggressive" pre-empt and translation rights have already sold in pre-empt or at auction in Croatia, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy and Romania.

It will be published in hardback as a super lead debut in summer 2023, supported by a major marketing and publicity campaign. 

Adegoke is an award-winning journalist and bestselling co-author of Slay in Your Lane (Fourth Estate). The publisher said The List is "a sensational, page-turning debut novel about secrets, lies and our lives on the internet".

It opens as Ola Olajide, a high-profile journalist at Womxxxn magazine, is preparing to marry the love of her life in one month’s time. Young, beautiful, successful – she and her fiancé Michael are the "couple goals" of their social networks 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?"

Widyaratna said: "Wildly entertaining, fiercely clever, sharply satirical and dazzlingly clear-sighted, The List throws our contemporary society and its morally complicated internet culture into stark relief. Yomi pulls this all off with such exceptional style and flair that it blew all of us at Fourth Estate away. This is a sensational debut novel with important things to say, and we couldn’t be prouder to publish it and Yomi Adegoke."

Adegoke added: "Being able to continue my publishing journey as I move into fiction where it began, with Fourth Estate, is truly a dream come true. The industry response to the novel has already knocked me for six and it has been a joy to see such conversation generated around it before release. I'm so excited for readers to meet Ola, Michael, their friends, their foes and everyone in between in The List!"

Steed, who turned down multiple significant pre-empts within 24 hours of submission, said: "I’ve never seen a reaction quite like the response we had to Yomi’s debut, and it couldn’t be more deserved. The List is a whip-smart, decade-defining piece of fiction – a book you immediately want to recommend and discuss with everyone you know. Fourth Estate showed incredible vision and ambition for Yomi’s novel and I can’t wait for publication next summer."