Book Review of Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

     Name of Book:

Author:

ISBN:

Publisher:

Part of a Series:

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

Year it was published:

Summary:

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:

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.)