I'm about to make this book my entire personality. I loved it so much. Gothic, creepy, disgusting, vile, darkly funny .... gah this was fantastic.

I had high hopes for this and it started off well. I loved the nods to Victorian literature and the satirical tone. But the characters were so underdeveloped and it seemed to lurch from scene to scene.
Thank you to NetGalley and WW Norton and Co for the ARC

This one was not for me. While I’m generally a big fan of gothic horror, the plot didn’t grab me and the writing style was off-putting.

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito is a darkly comical, grotesque exploration into the mind of an unrepentant antiheroine, Winifred "Fred" Notty. A wicked gothic novella, this is something rather different and deeply unsettling in taking on the Victorians, mashing satire with horror in a shocking, strange, and weirdly captivating way. Notty, a gender-flipped, time-traveling iteration of American Psycho's Patrick Bateman, is more the product of a monstrous upbringing than anything intrinsically villainous. Her backstory-continuously enveloped in trauma, psychological scars, and a poisonous relationship with her mother-is the disturbing bedrock upon which unyielding cruelty and emotional disconnection are securely founded.

It's about Notty becoming a governess for the Pounds family at Ensor House, employed to tutor the two children, Andrew and Drusilla. From the first day of her arrival, however, she informs them that in three months, they will all be dead. What follows is an icky, darkly comedic unspooling of her malevolent plans. Adding to the discomfort and macabre amusement are the layers of Notty's relations with the children, especially her dark and twisted teaching methodologies full of brutal stories and chilling threats.

Some of the violence and gore in Victorian Psycho are not for the squeamish. The imagery is visceral and often stomach-churning, particularly in terms of how the film treats its children and animals. The novella does not dwell on prolonged torture scenes, but the horrific results of Notty's actions will remain in the mind of the reader long after the final page is read. This is extreme horror, but not in the traditional sense-it's the psychological terror, the cold-blooded wit, and bleak satire of social mores that strike deepest.

What really makes Victorian Psycho compelling is its narrator. Notty is horrific, yet oddly fascinating and even appealing in her detachment. Her sardonic wit and ruthlessness render her a perfect lens through which to critique the hypocrisies of Victorian society. Feito's writing is sharp, her dark humor biting, and her pacing relentless as the story builds toward a harrowing climax. Though the plot in itself is basic-witnessing Notty's twisted journey through Ensor House-the characterization by Feito and the audacity of the narrative pull one into it.

Victorian Psycho is ultimately a brutal, unapologetic critique of both its era and the nature of monstrosity in and of itself. It's not for every kind of reader, particularly those sensitive to graphic violence or disturbing content. But to the readers who enjoy unnerving stories with a mix of dark humor and social critique, Victorian Psycho is a genuinely engrossing and truly unforgettable read. Feito has woven a tale that is as darkly comedic as it is disquieting, and Winifred Notty is a protagonist who will probably stay with you long after closing this book.

⋆⋆⋆⅘ — ultimately an enjoyable satire/thriller, but i did not love the prose. i feel like i don't often notice period inaccurate dialogue unless it's very blatant, and it was very in-your-face questionable in this book. also very bizarre at times—how does she manage to kill like five people, including a baby, before christmas and no one says anything?—but honestly, all the other characters were portrayed as both self-obsessed and severely stupid, so i can believe they wouldn't notice a servant's disappearance. whether this makes for good characterization or an enjoyable story is a different question—i liked it, but i'm not sure whether everyone would. it's very flagrant, and the author's views are outright screamed in every other paragraph. no subtle blue curtains with this one. i did like how fred's descend into derangement was written, however.

okay, not really relevant to my review, and didn't affect my liking of the story but! a lot of people are saying that she's a monster made by victorian society etc etc, but i read her as a born psychopath. she's been deranged since she was a child. her mother's trying to repeatedly kill her may or may not have pushed her over the edge but. she was not a normal baby. idk. she very much inherited her mother's issues with psychosis.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy.

Victorian Psycho is a bloody romp of a tale injected with comedic bits. I very much enjoyed the tale of murderous governess Winifred Notty and her vengeance reaped upon the Pounds family and their guests. The period, setting and tongue in cheek humor with a deranged psychopath at the helm made for a unique story unlike any other.

Striking and unsettling Victorian Psycho explores deeply disturbing themes following Winifred Notty's path of destruction as a governess who sets her eyes on the Pound family of Ensor Estate.

Winifred tries her best to suppress her urge of murderous ways, but as anything evil it starts to seep through her pours and becomes slightly manic from time to time leaving a trail of bodies behind. Her dark humor and breaking the fourth wall really shows just how unhinged she is as a person, yet it's so refreshing. She understands there is something wrong with her, but she completely accepts who she is and what she has done with no second guessing.

I very much enjoyed the writing style and storyline. It kept me wanting to read to see what happens next. The ending was so delightfully disgusting absolutely no one was off limits once Winifred let her dark twisted urges take over.

If you decide to read this PLEASE read the trigger warnings this isn't for the faint of heart!

Striking and unsettling Victorian Psycho explores deeply disturbing themes following Winifred Notty's path of destruction as a governess who sets her eyes on the Pound family of Ensor Estate.

Winifred tries her best to suppress her urge of murderous ways, but as anything evil it starts to seep through her pours and becomes slightly manic from time to time leaving a trail of bodies behind. Her dark humor and breaking the fourth wall really shows just how unhinged she is as a person, yet it's so refreshing. She understands there is something wrong with her, but she completely accepts who she is and what she has done with no second guessing.

I very much enjoyed the writing style and storyline. It kept me wanting to read to see what happens next. The ending was so delightfully disgusting absolutely no one was off limits once Winifred let her dark twisted urges take over.

If you decide to read this PLEASE read the trigger warnings this isn't for the faint of heart!

From the first page, Victorian Psycho envelops the reader in a decaying, ominous atmosphere. The setting is drenched in a sense of foreboding, with imagery that is beautifully grotesque. The author’s act of digression in the beginning chapters could have been tighter to keep the suspense going. It’s admirable to read upon the rare use of breaking the fourth wall, being both striking and unsettling, mirroring Winifred’s fractured psyche. Her conditioned mind prevails the stuck world she inhabits, creating a sense of intimacy to the inherent disintegration of her mind.

The novel explores deeply disturbing themes in a simplistic manner as the characters seem unmoved to the horrors unfolding around them. The readers' perceptions of morality is judged by the physical violence and heavy consumption taking over the narrative of this piece. The grotesque doesn’t just lie in the blood and gore, but in the insatiable hunger that seems to consume both the characters and the world they inhabit.

Gluttony is turned into something even more gory than violence itself, rendering a simple appetite grotesque in its own right. It’s almost paradoxical how this indulgence becomes not just a physical act, but an existential one. What is shocking is not merely the gore, but the indifference to it—a world where the horror is happening right in front of the characters, yet they remain blind to it by the glistening distraction of class importance.

Victorian Psycho forces readers to confront uncomfortable questions about mortality, morality, and its limits. The yummy yearning for the indulgence of violence maintains its spontaneity, making the obvious yet again passive to anyone that finds it transparent. The blend of mocking satire and its outcomes leaves the reader with a chill—one that lingers long after the final page is turned.

I…..I don’t know what I was expecting….


This…might be one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read? Maybe? I don’t know. I have so many thoughts.

Let me just say, I didn’t hate this. If anything, I was confusingly intrigued and had to finish it in one sitting because….what the actual hell did I just read??

While this is a very American Psycho meets Silence of the Lambs…it’s also something else entirely. Even through the gore and the murder and the generally disgustingly vibrant details of both, I was chuckling at the wit and dry humor throughout.

What does that say about me as a person, though? 🤔🤔
Probably nothing great.

I can’t say I would recommend this to many, although the few that I would recommend it too would be equally as enthralled and horrified. (Because who willingly reads about infanticide or child death or cannibalism? Clearly only sick fucks like myself. Shame on me.)

And, despite the utter horror, violence, and gore of the last 2 chapters, they were my favorite. A retelling of the “12 Days of Christmas”, indeed.

Overall, this was a great time. I am still in a “what the fuck just happened” frame of mine, currently. But man. What a ride.

Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton and Company for allowing me to read this insanely unique and twisted tale! I can’t say I’ll be forgetting it anytime soon. (Or wanting to eat anything, for that matter.)

This is about Miss Winifred Notty who arrives at Ensor House to be the new governess for the Pounds family. Secretly bloodthirsty with a penchant for perverse and horrifying compulsions...as Christmas nears, Miss Notty is going to hand out some sinister gifts of her own.

I don't know where to begin...this is a gothic Victorian version of American Psycho. We're diving into Miss Nottys broken and traumatized psyche as she's humorously trying to suppress her murderous urges...and hide the evidence of those she can't. It's a pitch black comedy as even the most graphic violence is described with nonchalance and humor. It feels satirical in so many ways. Winifred Notty is, by far, one of the greatest anti-heros I've ever read. She's hilarious, she's out of her goddamn mind.

It starts a bit slow but it just builds and builds until the outright batshit insane finale. It's not a perfect book, there are a few issues with pacing and structure but it's mostly easy to overlook. The writing in itself is fantastic. I had a really great time with this. I laughed through the shock.

Content warning...it truly IS very graphic. And disgusting. Most of it's told with humor. Blood and gore abound. Including infanticide and child death. A lot of it. (She's only joking about eating children.) 🤭

The publisher was kind enough to send me an ARC but this will be released February 4th 2025. The movie, starring Margaret Qualley, is due to start production next year.

I'm giving it 4/5⭐

This book was weird, and wonderful.
I love the voice of the writing, it is so unique. And the plot kept me interested every step of the way.

Be aware there is some gore and violence that may not be for everyone.

This was a fantastic, twisted and hilarious read. Although the title evokes American Psycho but this isn’t a gothic transplant, where Bateman was narcissistic, Winifred Notty just delights in evil. Feito's dry humour is perfect for the tone and makes this a wonderfully entertaining read.

I loved this one. It takes a lot for someone to adore a psychotic murderous governess. But I loved Miss Notty. One of my favorite characters so far this year.

This book had a dark humor that had me chuckling and even a twist I wasn’t expecting. Being inside Miss Notty’s angry bee of a brain was so fun. She really was trying her best with what was given to her. Lots of blood and gore. Gratuitous descriptions of of the upper class eating meat in all of its disgusting glory. I imagine most people would be cheering the governess on. She may be the clinical psycho but the people around her were also completely unhinged.

Such a fun read! Definitely recommend! Bonus that it can be considered holiday/Christmas horror! Go in cold if you can.

Delightfully insane. Who knew something so dark could also be so funny? The mad governess who narrates this tale is both hilarious and disturbing. The author does a great job of taking a typical Gothic setting/narrative and completely turning it upside down, defying the reader’s expectations. The creativity is really remarkable, and the book is both haunting and fun.

Despite a very evocative cover, and an interesting blurb, I just could not find my way into this one. The writing style just did not work for me. I couldn't connect to the characters or storyline almost from the opening pages. It felt awkward and stilted, linguistically. This one was not a good fit for me.

I really wanted to like this book. It has everything I would love on paper, a Gothic antihero, a spooky manor house, and an interesting class analysis in Victorian England, but this narration fell flat. The tone was fast and silly at times in a way that made no sense for the genre and subject matter.

It was a struggle to get through and there was a lot of telling and not showing when it came to Fred's flavour of evil. I understand the book meant to show how well she can masquerade as meek and what that looks like internally, but I felt like there were no real stakes despite it being quite a bloodbath.

This book was provided for free in exchange for an honest review, thanks to Netgalley and W.W. Norton.

Victoria Feito’s novel Victorian Psycho was delightfully disgusting—glorifying guts and gore in the most jaw-dropping fashion. Every new page was filled with scenes and dialogue somehow progressively more unhinged than the last.

I found myself rooting for the main character, Winifred Notty, from page one. My adoration for Winifred increased alongside her insanity. I’m not entirely surprised at myself for this, because I do in fact tend to happily devour a good unreliable narrator driven storyline. With that being said, the way that Feito expressed the tumultuous nature of Winifred’s grasp on reality through her actions and inner dialogue was so descriptive that I could not stop reading, even with the artfully illustrated carnage throughout the story. Yes, there are major content warnings for just general gore and violence, however, when I say that the gore absolutely is necessary and furthers the plot, I mean that I do not think it would have been nearly as fascinating of a read if there were even a sentence less.

As a life-long avid reader, it is typically very difficult for a novel to reveal a “big twist” in the plot that I didn’t already see coming from the first two chapters. Most novels, even novels that fall within the mystery and thriller genre, are full of tropes big and small that are easily identified if looked at close enough. With the plot twist in Victorian Psycho, however, I heard myself audibly saying “What? Huh? Excuse me?” so many times in a row that my husband turned and asked if I was doing alright. Obviously not because ???. That was insane. Immediately upon re-reading that sentence for the 16th time, mouth agape, I scrambled to mentally review all of the scenes and plot points leading up to that. I was able to piece a lot of clues together that pointed to this reveal. For a split second I was frustrated that, for once, I did not see this coming. But the further I read the more I understood that Feito crafted this narrative in such a brilliant way that it was impossible to focus on anything else besides trying to navigate what this Victorian psychopath will do next.

All in all, I intend on giving this novel a high recommendation to my non-squeamish friends and family when it is released to the public.

PS: If you were a big fan of the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, you’ll love reading about the sweet, sweet revenge of a Victorian woman gone mad.

3.5!!! Let me first say I love a good psychological thriller - however they not only hard to write, but hard to write well. Virginia Feito wrote not only a good one but an eerie gothic one! What a feat! This was such a fun little read. Winifred Notty is batshit crazy, loved the character completely- especially seeing her come fully herself at the very end.

Excited to see where this goes with the adaptation that is coming out for this shortly after.

Thank you to Netgalley & Liveright for the ARC!

So weird and fun! I loved the interesting take on the governess and the gothic in this. I'm very excited to see the film version with Margaret Qualley as well.