Book Review of Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

   

 Name of Book: Victorian Psycho

Author: Virginia Feito

ISBN: 9781631498633

Publisher: Liveright 

Type of book: England, horror, Victorian Era (1870s) physical horror and psychological, evil, governess, secrets, fall and winter, 

Year it was published: 2025

Summary:

Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect Victorian governess. She’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But the longer Winifred spends within the estate’s dreary confines and the more she learns of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family, the more trouble she has sticking to her plan.

Whether creeping across the moonlit lawns in her undergarments or gently tormenting the house staff, Winifred struggles at every turn to stifle the horrid compulsions of her past until her chillingly dark imagination breaches the feeble boundary of reality on Christmas morning.

Wielding her signature sardonic wit and a penchant for the gorgeously macabre, Virginia Feito returns with a vengeance in Victorian Psycho.

Characters:

Main character is Winifred Notty, a governess with DARKNESS inside. I am definitely struggling in describing her, but I would guess impulsive, murderous, deviant a well as a closeted umm c are the right descriptions. There are secondary characters but they are more caricatures than actual people. Mr Pounds is head of household who is obsessed with phrenology ( measuring skulls and seeing if there are criminal tendencies). Mrs Pounds is his wife who thinks she is beautiful but is ugly, and treats Winifred very harshly. The kids, Andrew and Drusilla. Drusilla is the oldest child who seems to care for Winifred and is often held back by her mother. Andrew is a spoilt first son.  

Theme:

People can be born evil? There is no thin line between environment and genetics? 

Plot:

The story is written in first person narrative from Winifred Nottys point of view. Winifred gets a job as a governess at John Pounds household in tutoring his two kids, Drusilla and Andrew. She arrives, and is less than enthused with her employers and charges. She tries, I believe, to have some normalcy within her mind, but the Darkness and ugliness festering inside overwhelm her and it all comes ahead on a Christmas day. We also witness her childhood, that of being a bastard daughter and there is a lot ugly stuff about Victorian Era as well. All in all, an interesting read. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

A native of Spain, Virginia Feito was raised in Madrid and Paris, and studied English and drama at Queen Mary University of London. She worked as a copywriter until she quit to write her debut novel. She lives in Madrid.

Opinion:

Just for the record, I rated this book based on my enjoyment rather than how it is written. So it's a very well written book that can elicit a lot of emotions with sparse prose and a mentally disturbed anti-heroine, but apparently it wasn't for me. For readers who love physical horror as well as a lot of psychological horror, then this is a perfect book. But for someone who is iffy and disgusted by physical horror, especially by the main characters mind, look elsewhere. 

This was given for review 

2 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)