VICTORIAN PSYCHO
Finally, a novel where the woman is monstrous not because she’s a seductress, but because she’s an unhinged, emotionless psychopath with an axe to grind!
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito is a novel that stands alone as a pillar of modern Gothic fiction. At turns viscerally poetic and horrifyingly blunt, Victorian Psycho follows the journey of Winifred Notty, a governess with a loathsome past, as she tumbles into a pit of depravity so deep, readers can’t help but tumble with her.
From the moment Winifred steps foot inside Ensor House, the reader is made aware that there is something terribly wrong—or else deliciously right—with the mental workings of the Pounds’s new governess. Her emotions appear odd and fabricated, her smile forced, and carnage seems to follow in her wake.
As Christmas creeps nearer—bringing with it a slew of wealthy guests as ridiculous as they are entertaining—Winifred’s thoughts return repeatedly to her mysterious father, the brutal death of her mother, and the maniacal puritanism of the Reverend who raised her. But Christmas, she is certain, will bring closure. A chance to exorcise the demons of her past. And, if everything goes according to plan, a bloody good time.
While it’s impossible to sing enough praise for this modern cornerstone of Gothic fiction, the highlight of Victorian Psycho, to my mind, is the blurring of lines between reality and imagination. Through Winifred, Fieto takes the idea of an unreliable narrator and pushes it to the extreme masterfully flitting between horrors of the past, present, and future with dizzying rapidity. The effect is a story that manages to make readers question their own mental faculties as much as Winifred’s. I can’t count the number of times I shouted, ‘Did that really just happen?’ only to discover two pages later that Winifred’s imagination had misled us both.
With Halloween fast approaching, and Autumn already upon us, Victorian Psycho is the perfect spooky season book recommendation for fans of the ghoulish and macabre. If you’ve been patiently waiting for a book that feels like a fever-dream mashup of Ready or Not and Jane Eyre, then this novel is for you.
Pro Tip: The film adaptation of Victorian Psycho hits theaters on November 13th. Read the novel. Watch the film. And double the delectable terror.
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Liveright Publishing Corporation
© 2025
