How can I do to convert a string to a list using python?

Question

I have that problem :

I assume that I have the following string :

a = "['Hello', 'Exit', 'Eat']"

And I want to convert into a string that's to say I want to get something like that :

a = ['Hello', 'Exit', 'Eat']

I tried to do that : b = list(a) but without any success ..

Could you help me please ?

Thank you very much !