I would recommend this book to any historical fiction lover who also has a desire for humor and a little more “twisted” type of tale. This story had me captivated from the beginning and laughing along the way. Winifred Notty has the inner monologue I strive for. She is sassy, strange, mad, and over it… just like most of us! I want to read soooo much more by Virginia Feito and I’m so grateful I got the chance to read this one!

I really enjoyed this book! A hauntingly wild and twisted ride—this book lives up to its name in every way. The author masterfully brings Winifred to life as a believable psychopath, and the author's choice to experience the story from her perspective was well executed. The pacing is fast, the plot is gripping, and everything feels tightly woven together. Winifred is not just a product of her troubled past—she’s unpredictable, calculating, and unhinged. You’ll constantly be questioning whether her actions are part of some sinister plan or just impulsive madness. This lends to the narrative very well. Highly recommended! Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the advanced copy!

The ultimate fever dream read. Do not go into this one expecting everything to make sense and everything to be realistic. Wild and intense. Intense and insane. Wild, did I say it was wild?

Good grief Virginia, what a story! I was horrified yet could not look away. I laughed, I gasped, I yelled at my friends. This novella is dark and is unapologetic in making anyone uncomfortable. The writing is strong, and our narrator has layers of unreliability, which only add to the whole "what in the blue blazes is going on?" vibe. I loved it! Thank you Liverlight & NetGalley for the ARC. Give this a read when it publishes February 04, 2025!

I’m sorry but for a book around 200 pages you would think it would have been a quick read.

I DNF’d this multiple times before pushing through to the end. The writing get wasn’t working for me - choppy and disjointed.

Due to that reason, I had very little enjoyment reading and struggled to piece together the actual plot.

Of course this is just my opinion. If the book seems up your alley, I do still recommend you give it a try.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company, Liveright Publishing, NetGalley, and Virginia Feito for this ARC. Publication Date: February 4, 2025.

Wow—what a ride! Imagine American Psycho transported to the rigid, stifling world of the late 1800s, with Patrick Bateman reimagined as a Victorian governess, and you’ll begin to grasp the dark brilliance of Victorian Psycho. This is a story drenched in blood and tension, balancing unsettling violence with razor-sharp character exploration.

The novel follows Winifred Notty, who arrives at the dreary Ensor House to take up the role of governess for Drusilla and Andrew, two children as enigmatic as the family itself. Beneath Winifred’s composed exterior lies something far more sinister. As she becomes ensnared in the Pounds family’s twisted world—dominated by their obsessions, secrets, and oppressive decadence—Winifred’s carefully controlled facade begins to fracture. Her dark imagination takes over, pulling her further into a spiral of chilling violence that culminates in an unforgettable Christmas morning.

Winifred is a protagonist like no other—detached, cunning, and disturbingly self-assured. She navigates her grim world with an unsettling calm, recounting her actions with biting wit and an unnerving lack of remorse. Her unraveling is slow and deliberate, making her a character as fascinating as she is terrifying.

I approached this book expecting a conventional gothic Victorian thriller but was utterly blindsided by its depth and audacity. Victorian Psycho is more than a gothic tale; it’s a chilling study of madness, repression, and the cracks that form in a twisted mind. Feito’s writing is atmospheric and precise, drawing readers into a world where darkness seeps through every interaction and every setting.

If you’re drawn to stories with morally ambiguous characters, gothic settings, and a narrative that doesn’t flinch from the macabre, Victorian Psycho is a must-read. This is historical horror at its finest—intelligent, provocative, and utterly captivating.

Victorian Psycho is a dark disturbing fever dream of a read, whose main character will leave you shocked and unsettled. Winifred Notty comes to the Ensor house as the new governess for Drusilla and Andrew Pounds. With plans to tutor her charges, read them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. However, the longer she stays with the Pounds, the more of their dark secrets she uncovers, and the more she despises them. Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. She must have patience for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for everyone at the Ensor house.
Feito masterfully spins a dark yet witty story that draws you into its shocking conclusion. With creepy Victorian setting and dark gothic gore, this ominous story of the macabre will shock you and leave you wondering how you will sleep tonight.

Welcome, Winifred, to the growing canon of unhinged, murderous women of modern horror literature!

Winifred is the titular Victorian Psycho, a newly employed governess of the Pounds family who is responsible for the schooling and moral education of their two children, Drusilla and Andrew. Winifred's station sets her a part from Bret Easton Ellis's American psycho - whereas Patrick Bateman's character is intended to comment on socioeconomic privilege from an insider's perspective, Winifred's character does so from the perspective of someone who does not have the same privilege but does have access to their world, their trust. Because of this small modification in point of view, Feito’s novel more directly scratches the class animus itch. Very "eat the rich."

I think where this novel shines is its prose. Feito does a great job evoking the time period without the stereotypical ornate stylings of modern Gothic literature situated in similar settings. Feito also makes great use of allusion and foreshadowing to enhance atmosphere and anticipation, respectively.

Regarding allusion, the most obvious is the novella's title, but I've already gone over that. The other allusions mostly concern the science of othering characteristic of the time. Phrenology in particular is one of the patriarch Mr. Pounds's pastimes, which he subjects Winifred to fairly early on. There is also the pseudo-psychology abound in the social environment of the book, mainly that concerning women's mental faculties. There are references to hysteria and melancholy as feminine afflictions, particularly concerning women who are neglected, in pain, or suffering from loss. So, it is no wonder why women work to conceal their true feelings from men as well as the other women who may judge. It’s fascinating to watch this social masking, which is traditionally the downfall of Victorian female protagonists, be sharpened into a weapon in the hands of Winifred.

Regarding foreshadowing, there is quite a lot that I somehow didn't immediately pick up on that funnels directly into the gorey climax! Everything that happens in this novel is well planned in advance - one might say premeditated. Even so, there were still a couple of surprises in store that made the final pages even more of a sadistic delight to read!

There will inevitably be comparisons of this novel to other recent femme reimaginings of American Psycho, including A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers and Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede. However, I think I'd rather recommend this novel to fans of Where I End by Sophie White and possibly Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh because of their focus on transgressive femininity and (in Eileen's case subtle) queer themes. Either way, this novella is a fun little bloodbath that I'm sure many horror readers will enjoy.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!

This is not your average horror type of book, sure it's got lots of blood and spooky situations, but it's just a bit more than that as well, read it and you'll see. Winifred Notty has become the governess of two children of the Pound family, they live in a large mansion (the Pounds are well off) in the country and had recently let the previous governess go. The children Andrew and Drusilla are to be taught some languages, and some basic schooling (math, reading), Mrs Pounds was very explicit about this, wanting her children to succeed in life and for her son to take the place of her husband in time. Winifred is a larger lady and not real attractive, though that may have been the reason she was hired, as it soon becomes apparent that Mr Pounds has a bit of a wandering eye and when Mrs Pounds thinks something might be happening between Winifred and her husband, she makes Winifred spend the night in the dog house, with the dog. Not how you win over your employee. Winifred does have some bad habits, like stealing stuff and killing people, all of which come to a head at a very big Christmas dinner party where there are several guests, a tad over the top, but within reason for Winifred. A very good book and I would recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Liveright for the ARC.

the formatting of the ARC is so painful to read on kobo, really wish the publisher provided EPUB format instead of PDF. lots of glitches as well, made it unreadable. still looking forward to reading when this is released.

one star purely for the fact that it was unreadable!

Victorian England is a cruel, disgusting, and ugly place and I don't begrudge Winifred for what she does.

"Victoria Psycho" is a dark and funny novella about a governess as she navigates Ensor house as well as violent habits. I think this was a lot of fun, I never knew what Winifred was about to do next but she gets where she's going.

I liked the illustrations between the parts, it makes the old-classic style of writing more immersive. Also how short it is, the characters go through some pretty brutal things and the story doesn't linger on them. There were a few times Winifred broke the fourth wall, I wish these had either been cut out entirely or a couple more had been added. I did enjoy how ugly everything was described as. Dispite the story taking place within a well off estate, no-one is nice to look at. Even with Winifred everyone's ability to be cruel is on their faces. It is a time where mummies are crushed to powder and dead babies are meant to be forgotten, so macabre and death themed but the governess is the weird one? Yes extremely so.

If you like weird little books with unlikeable characters I think this is up your alley.

A delightfully dark and humorous tale with a protagonist that you love even though she is 100 % evil!

This had some great moments and the writing was good to sticking with the time period. I didn't like all the baby stuff and there were aspects that felt confusing and disjointed, which may have had to do with the fact that the MC was insane, but it impacted the readability for me. I liked that a portion of it took place on Christmas! That was festive and fun to read during the holiday season.

This one didn’t work for me. I don’t mind gory or gruesome which this certainly was, but the writing was a bit jumpy. It was told almost in short vignettes and when they skipped around in time it was confusing. Add to that an unreliable narrator and I wasn’t sure what was happening most of the time. Then it seemed like most of the scenes were short and lacked detail - I’m not quite sure how Winifred got away with everything she supposedly did. It seemed a bit too convenient.

I did appreciate the Victorian setting; made things very creepy and eerie. I also felt that there were some humorous parts and I wonder if some of my complaints were meant to be in service of the comedy. Unfortunately I wasn’t fond of this one and struggled to finish.

This was a wild book. The character of Miss Notty was definitely psycho! There were so many times I said "What a psycho". The flashbacks were helpful to understand her past. This was a fast paced book and it kept me hooked from the beginning. It was definitely great horror book. I also enjoyed the Christmas theme as well.

Victorian Psycho is the story of a newly hired governess, Winifred Notty, who harbors a secret and some very dark impulses. She comes to work for the Pounds family, who are not as virtuous as they would like to appear.

What I love about Victorian Psycho is its unapologetic embrace of over-the-top horror in a Victorian setting, while also touching on themes of inequality and misogyny. Winifred, our anti heroine, is delightfully unhinged, and I found myself both horrified and amused by her grotesque antics. This is also a great holiday read, taking us all the way through the twelve days of Christmas with a climax that was absolutely sending me!! I couldn’t put it down and ended up reading it in one sitting through the night.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher. I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PUB DATE: Feb 4, 2025

Thank you so much to @liverightbooks & @w.w.norton for this ARC!

VICTORIAN PSYCHO was the perfect Christmas Eve Eve read. VICTORIAN PSYCHO is fast paced, gruesome, clever, and smart. Brimming with dark humor and wit, VICTORIAN PSYCHO is a fantastic novella. I adored it.

In Victorian England, Winifred Notty comes to Ensor House for a governess position ... and revenge. The madness culminates on Christmas Day, with a house full of guests, and no one is safe.

Holy f*ck, no lies detected from the other reviewers. I am pretty new to the horror genre and wasn't sure I would have the stomach for this one, but the cover hooked me. It turned out to be oddly fascinating (not sure what that says about me). The Victorian period was full of grotesque practices and traditions, so it's a great historical backdrop for a horror story. Winifred is witty and ruthless, and her employers and young charges might be a bit twisted, too. The descriptions of the home, the Christmas celebrations, etc., will curl the reader's toes.

Not sure I can handle watching a movie adaptation, but it's apparently in the works.

Victorian Psycho feels like a delightfully disgusting mashup of Jane Eyre and Maeve Fly.

We’ve seen the setup before; a governess goes to a manor house to govern two children. Instead of ghosts or things going bump in the night, we follow Winnifred Notty as she cheerfully discusses (to the reader, but sometimes to the family!) all that she wants to do to her young charges. Victorian Psycho is written in the style of a Victorian classic which makes the violent comments come out of nowhere and the gastly jokes really land.

This is darkly funny and an unhinged gothic story; gruesome horror with dollops of satirical humor on top.

Historical gothic horror following Winifred, who is hired to work as a governess for a wealthy family just prior to Christmas. She is such an interesting character and you quickly learn how twisted (quite literally psycho) her true intentions are. This was equal parts gruesome and hilarious and I ate it up. One of those insane books that I’m almost ashamed to recommend, so if you read this because of me - no you didn’t!