Review by Frank Plowright

Agnes and Daisy have been BFFs since forever, and on the last day of school they’re looking forward to spending a long summer together. That’s still going to be possible, but Agnes’ mother has a new job and it means them moving.

It’s a bombshell for both girls, as they’ve relied on each other through thick and thin, and Victoria Evans brings out their disappointment and fears well before they hit on the idea of finding the scrapbook record of their holiday together when eight, which they called The History of Everything. It was initially prompted by Daisy’s grandmother telling them if they’re busy they won’t have time to be sad, and that maxim works just fine for updating the scrapbook with a bucket list of all the things Agnes and Daisy had meant to experience together, but as yet haven’t.

It’s not just the initial disappointment Evans supplies to a high standard. The conversations, reactions and expressions show two people really at home in each other’s company, and showing the results of others intruding into that comfort zone is expressed equally well. Hopes and fears are supplied with an exuberant naturalism, which is all the more impressive for Evans giving herself a handicap by restricting the colours to either shades of purple or muted autumnal colours.

Readers will be able to see the cloud on the horizon, and also pick up on the way it directly speaks to Agnes’ situation, and it’s also worth noting that with the exception of a couple of very minor characters used in a single scene, no-one is bad here. Everything plays out from good intentions, yet Evans captures the self-centred blindness of teenagers to produce some heartbreaking moments.

If there’s a moral, it’s very few long-term projects run exactly to plan, and being adaptable and understanding will produce the best results.

Heavyweight young adult writers Kami Garcia and Rainbow Rowell (see recommendations) both provide cover blurbs, and they know what they’re talking about. Impressively honest, comfortingly understanding and well drawn, The History of Everything is a treat.