One of Them

An Eton College memoir

‘A writer worth waiting half a century for’ New Statesman

Musa Okwonga – a young Black man who grew up in a predominantly working-class town – was not your typical Eton College student.

The experience moulded and challenged him… but also made him wonder why a place that was so good for him also seemed to contribute to the harm being done to the UK. The more he searched, the more evident the connection became between one of Britain’s most prestigious institutions and the genesis of Brexit.

Woven throughout this deeply personal and unflinching memoir of Musa’s five years at Eton in the 1990s is a present-day narrative which engages with much wider questions: privilege, the distribution of wealth, the rise of the far right, systemic racism, the ‘boys’ club’ of government and the power of the few to control the fate of the many.

One of Them is both an intimate account and a timely exploration of race and class in modern Britain.

‘The memoir I’ve enjoyed most this year’ Hilary Mantel

‘Moving … stays with you long after you’ve finished it’ Nigella Lawson

‘A superb memoir … written with a poet’s lyricism and a journalist’s clarity’ Nish Kumar

‘Okwonga is a writer worth waiting half a century for’ New Statesman

‘Lyrical, often funny, intensely personal and undeniably thought-provoking’ Literary Review

‘A nuanced and complex account’ Daily Telegraph

‘An urgent exposition on how [Eton]’s undue influence is shaping political forces - from the current government and Brexit to the rise of nationalist and racist politics’ Stylist

Hardback: 224pp

Published: Wilton Square (November 2025)

ISBN: 9781783529674