Born in the late 1840s, sisters Madalene and Louisa Pasley were the daughters of a British admiral, and grew up in an upper class Victorian household. Educated at home, they often slipped away from their governesses in order to pursue their true passion: hunting and collecting insects of all kinds. This charming picture-book, written and illustrated by the sisters themselves when they were in their early teens, follows them as they "entomologise" to their hearts' content, driving their elder sister Georgie, and their art instructor Mr. Mitchell to distraction.

With narrative and artwork that was actually created in the mid-nineteenth century, Madalene and Louisa opens a window into the Victorian age for young people, while also providing an amusing tale of two young girls who didn't quite fit the model of sweet girlhood abroad in the culture at the time. The artwork is likewise amusing, depicting the eponymous Madalene and Louisa as older spinsters - according to the brief foreword by Time Jeal, a descendent of the sisters, this was part of an inside joke - and capturing their somewhat surreal adventures battling various bugs in an entertaining way. Recommended to readers looking for depictions of Victorian childhood, or interested in Victorian juvenilia. ( )

This is a funny little story originally written by a pair of sisters sixteen and twelve years old. It features them running away from governesses and studying entomology (much to the disgust of their older sister). They've drawn themselves as a pair of spinsters lugging around giant bugs. ( )