This is a short book that I devoured in about two hours. I really enjoyed all the themes here - gothic manor, questionable governess, violent ghosts (?), etc. It was a fun spin on a classic horror trope and a dark comedy that was successful for me. It certainly won't be for everyone, but if you love sardonic women who are just a little too weird (i.e. gross, murderous) for the people around them, then you'll enjoy this one very much.

Thanks to NetGalley and Liveright for providing the arc for me to review.

Oh how I loved this dark and demented book. I don't even know where to begin.

As the blurb explains, this book is set in Victorian times and Winifred Notty arrives at the Ensor House to care for their two young children, Andrew and Drusilla. The problem is that Winifred is not your average nanny. She doesn't have feelings such as fear or regret and she has a very hard time not acting on her dark impulses to harm everyone around her.

This book is very dark and not for the faint of heart. There are many deaths, including babies and small children, and everything that Winifred does is absolutely offensive but somehow, I could not STOP LAUGHING. Much of this book is a satire about the elite class. Everything that they said and did was absolutely ridiculous. We learn that cousin Margaret is not invited to family functions because the shape of her head is unsatisfactory. At one point we learn that a visiting couple has left a young chimney sweep stuck in their chimney and that they would deal with it when they get home (days later). The young woman of the house (Drusilla) wasn't allowed to get an advanced education like her brother because it was believed it would mess up her fertility. Everything is done in excess - scenes of eating are especially disgusting - and eventually there comes a point where you don't blame Winifred for her murderous thoughts.

If I had one small critique, it would be that the grand ending that everything was leading up to felt a bit rushed. But I can forgive that one small issue because everything else was top notch.

The whole hilarity of this book, while at the same time gross and inappropriate, had the feel of an A24 movie or maybe if Emma Stone's character in Poor Things had become a nanny. Very Maeve Fly with less sex and more murdering. There are quotable lines throughout the book. I couldn't stop writing them down and laughing aloud and reading them all to my husband while he rolled his eyes. I would not recommend this book to my mom - she would have heart palpitations - I would, however, recommend it to all of my friends. Absolutely fantastic.

Just finished this gem up in two days after receiving an ARC from the publisher!
I really, really enjoyed this one! Chapters are short but poignant. They have some wit and edge that keeps you invested in the MC despite knowing that she's crazy. I loved the ambiance that this gives. I did it as a Halloween read, but it does take place during Christmas time, so it could be read during that time as well!

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: February 04, 2025
𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪:

The way I loved this book was wild. This book was super gothic eerie feeling and dark. I loved every single page of this! The way I gasped in a lot of places in this book…the bedtime stories this main character tells—that’s things nightmares are made of haha. Our MC isn’t really who she says she is and we find out little details and tidbits along the way in the story and once you reach the end you will have to pick your jaw straight off the floor. This book will live inside your mind for a long time after it’s over. This is by far one of the most unique creepy eerie reads I have read in a long time and it was just in time for spooky season weekly read. I want to read this again and relive it honestly. Pay mind to triggers and make sure you are ready for some darkness before reading on. Definitely will recommend to my bookish friends who enjoy such dark gothic reads such as this. BRAVO! I’m off to find out what else our incredible author has written so that I can read all of them!!

Large thank you to our Author, NetGalley as well as W.W. Norton & Company, Liveright

I really enjoyed the subversive nature of this book and felt like it was almost executed extremely well, but there were a few times that I thought the plot was lacking or could have used a bit of tightening up, particularly near the end. also sometimes it felt like the blurred lines between reality and imagination in the story (on behalf of the MC) made it at times confusing to know what had happened. That's the point, but at times it felt unintentionally muddy. but I loved the concept and the dark humor!!!

This was so much fun! I’ve rarely read books this funny, and I laughed out loud plenty of times while reading it. It makes me want to read everything Feito writes. Great imagery, arresting diction, hilarious characters. I just felt like the ending was too rushed, mainly because I could have kept reading it!

This was a great read. I love historical fiction and horror, so this was a perfect combo. It was pretty gruesome, but not too much for me. The humor in this was nice too - a weird, fun, gross read!

I’ve never read a story quite like this before so for that reason alone I would recommend this to people that I know could handle it! Not for the faint of heart or those squeamish when it comes to children. And trust me, don’t make the mistake that I made with reading while eating :)

The story is told from the perspective of Miss Winifred Notty as she arrives at Ensor House to take on the role of the new governess. It’s very obvious from early on (first page) that our MC is unhinged and you’re left wondering if what she’s describing is real or imagined throughout the story. Though, honestly, all of the characters are pretty weird or fucked up. It’s a bit of a mystery as to why she applied for the position at this estate but she definitely came with the intent to ruffle some petticoats. Miss Notty is detached, cold-blooded and vulgar but there’s no denying her wit and dark sense of humor.

This was super easy to read quickly and gory/descriptive so I let out a good amount of “what the fuckkk”s and “right in front of my salad?”s. The prose is very fitting for the time and I enjoyed the handful of pictures throughout the book but I really wish it was longer. Imo, similar to American Psycho (obviously) and would work as an A24 movie reminiscent of Pearl. Overall this is a perfect October - December read, and I’ll be adding a physical copy when it releases in February 2025!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this eARC!

This book was much more grimly comedic than I expected. There was a dark, sharp humor that sometimes broke the fourth wall in a way that felt like a well-done nod to Jane Eyre. The horror of the story came less from the atmosphere than it did from the narrative, which I thought was really unique and made the horror aspects all the more unnerving. There was a sense of unease from the beginning that ramped up as the story went on, making it immediately grabbing and hard to put down.

In this chilling Victorian thriller, Virginia Feito introduces us to Winifred Notty, a governess whose appointment at Ensor House masks a disturbing reality. As she assumes her role caring for the Pound children under their father John's supervision, readers are drawn into the fractured psyche of a woman teetering between sanity and bloodlust.

What makes this gothic horror distinctive is Feito's masterful blurring of imagination and reality. Through Winifred's increasingly unstable perspective, everyday domestic scenes transform into potential theaters of violence, leaving readers constantly questioning which of her brutal impulses remain safely confined to fantasy and which have spilled over into the real world.

A quick and fun read that is easily finished in a day.

Victorian Psycho (4 star rating) Winifred Motty a governness brought in to care for the Pounds family. This book is so eery and gothic. I loved the gender reversal of Psycho and how this story unfolded.

Winifred's background is eery and mysterious from a place of missing children. Her ways of caring for the children are definitely different and not one I would want. Spooky stores and hushed whispers that would leave a little with nightmares.

This was a very atmospheric read and I loved the setting. I devoured this book in one day and I could not put it down!

Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company | Liveright for the ARC copy for my honest review.

"Victorian Psycho" is gruesome, funny, and decidedly *not* for sensitive readers. Our narrator gives us the awkward and absurd charm of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag, combined with the deeply cynical and invulnerable characterization of Chelsea Summers' Dorothy (A Certain Hunger).

The story begins when our protagonist arrives at an eerie estate, prepared to take on her role as governess. From the get-go, it is made clear to the reader that Miss Winifred Notty may not embody the doting governess she was advertised as on her resume. Through witty asides and morbid contemplations, it becomes increasingly obvious that harm will soon befall her employers. The certainty of this happening is unquestionable—the reader is left only to wonder how.

This tickled me! The narrative critiques and engages with the societal values of the victorian era. At times, it felt like poignant commentary on the whims of the upper class, and at others it felt like cruel prodding at those who were not given the same advantages. This was, no doubt, intentional—the only winners in this cruel metaphor are those who disregard it's power.

The only critique I can think to give is that I wanted more. I would have happily devour hundreds of additional pages. The atmospheric halls and grounds of the estate, the portraits of ancestors whose eyes follow you as you pass—the ambiguity that rears its head when the reader is forced to reckon with what is real, what is imagined, and what is maybe a little bit of both. "Victorian Psycho" had me reeling. I found myself completely unable to resist turning the page, even when I knew its contents would render me nauseous.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

Don’t read this one while eating. Just don’t. And maybe wait a while after you’ve eaten to read.

The story meanders along, relying on violence to bind it together. The brazen savagery is viscous and goopy, the gallows humor, intact.

Steeped in gore, Victorian Psycho is bound to keep your attention - I thought about it while I wasn’t reading (despite it’s shorter length, I had to read it in a few sittings - it was a little too gross out) and it kept me turning the pages.



Thank you to Liveright and NetGalley for the DRC

Not for me, unfortunately. It felt rushed and a little too much gore without enough motive or reason. The concept is a good idea and I liked the pairing of Drusilla and Ms Notty but it could use some reason.

"It fascinates me, the fact that humans have the capacity to mortally wound one another at will, but, for the most part, choose not to."

Victorian Psycho is a wicked satire of Victorian society told through the implacable gaze of a monster of its own making. Winifred Notty, hired by Mr. and Mrs. Pounds to be the new governess for their two spoiled children, informs the reader upon her arrival at Ensor House at the start of the book that within three month everyone in the house will be dead, and then she proceeds to wreak havoc.  

This is a short novella, so I don't want to say much more about the plot, but the story that unfolds is gruesome, shocking (even by today's standards), and scathingly hilarious as told through the sardonic wit, cold-blooded detachment, and mad quirks of Miss Notty.  The first real shocker for me came around the 50% mark, and after that I put aside all of my expectations. 

This isn't extreme horror, there's no protracted scenes of torture, but be forewarned that the innocent (including children and animals) and guilty alike suffer gruesome ends and that may be too much for some readers.  Ultimately, I enjoyed Victorian Psycho even more for the mercilessness of its narrator.  I was carried along completely by the story, the writing was excellent, and I couldn't help but find Miss Notty fascinating and strangely endearing.  Viriginia Feito's previous novel, Mrs. March, wasn't even on my radar but it's now at the top of my TBR, and I'll be purchasing and rereading Victorian Psycho when it comes out next year.

Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for a digital advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.  <i>Victorian Psycho</i> will be released February 4, 2025.

I am blown away by this authors prose. I haven’t read anything like it. This is not a book a reader can skim. Every single sentence is laced with a hint of darkness, crescendoing into pure madness by the end of the story. I hope to see this story become a horror classic. It deserves a place among the greatest.

A Tim Burton + Edward Gorey horror fest goodness, Victorian Psycho delivers exactly what's advertised by its title, a visceral, darkly humorous 'nanny gone mad' gothic narrative that is unshackled with its morality and violence. Would caution readers who are sensitive towards who the violence is inflicted upon (such as children), but overall I thoroughly enjoyed its unapologetic vulgar, hallucinatory writing, and the blo0d-soaked rampage. Not much in term of depth, but as a novella it is a perfect sensory indulgence!

This ended up being a fun little October jaunt featuring a truly rancid wealthy family, the slightly twisted governess they hire, lots of murder, and girl bonding only for class to interfere at the last second. Worth your time!

What a weird, little book.

Definitely something different for readers. It’s not super long so you can finish it quickly. Winifred is a very unique main character.

If you are looking for a unique read, check out Victorian Psycho. Thank you to NetGalley, Virginia Feito and W. W. Norton & Company | Liveright. I have written this review voluntarily.

Victorian Psycho is the perfect title of this book. Grotesque, gory, and delightfully horrific. I had a need for a good horror read and I was absolutely not disappointed!