Raise your hand if you’re in the mood for a little cathartic fictional violence this February! I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: 2025 is a year that has already been filled with so much rage and anxiety, not just for me but for a lot of communities everywhere. In times like these, a quick little horror read where rich people are mocked, rage is celebrated, the violence is campy and over-the-top? Yes, that’s exactly what we’re looking for.
Thank goodness for Virginia Feito’s Victorian Psycho, which came out earlier this month. Feito, your timing couldn’t possibly be better. Horror lovers everywhere, make sure you read this book!
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Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Welcome to Ensor House in Victorian England. We arrive here alongside governess Winifred Notty who has come to the dreary estate to care for and tutor her two charges, Drusilla and Andrew Pounds. Immediately upon meeting the children, Winifred (or “Fred” as she is sometimes called) notices how completely unremarkable and, frankly, stupid they both are. Nevertheless, Winifred is determined to play the perfect well-behaved governess. She will do her job to the best of her abilities. And she will never, ever, ever commit any violent crimes or kill any babies. Not this time. She promises herself.
But the more time she spends with the Pounds family, the more she feels the violent urges within her bubbling up to the surface again. Mr. Pounds has no misgivings about openly ogling Winifred and doesn’t mind flirting with her in full view of others. Meanwhile, Mrs. Pounds sees her husband’s behavior as a reason to punish Winifred. Between the Pounds’ horny patriarch, the constantly livid matriarch, and two infuriatingly dim children, Winifred has trouble keeping her rage in check. And, yeah…okay…maybe Winifred starts to give into some of her stranger urges. Who can blame her, really?
But Winifred has a plan. As she counts down the days to Christmas, Winifred imagines all the terrible things she’d love to do to the Pounds family and their obnoxious rich friends. Not too much longer now before she can make her dreams a reality. After all, the holidays are all about wishes coming true.
Okay, so I know I talked a lot about Christmas while describing this book, but trust me. This is not a cozy holiday read. Victorian Psycho is a much-needed brutal takedown of the upper class and all the strange ideologies we still uphold in contemporary society. If you’ve ever felt a desire to rage against the system or just tear the whole world down, then this book is for you. If you love feminist horror that’s not afraid to get a little bit bloody, then this book is for you.
Oh, and I still haven’t mentioned my favorite thing about Victorian Psycho: this novel is so funny. Maybe it sounds strange to laugh about a woman who fantasizes about eating children. But trust me. Feito’s direct delivery of our narrator’s horrifying impulses and perversions will make you laugh with her. You might even find yourself wondering if you wouldn’t think and act the same way Winifred does if you were put in that same position.
Victorian Psycho is the horror novel we didn’t know we needed. If you’ve been feeling angry or sad about 2025, you might find that this quick little 208-page fever dream is the perfect thing to scratch that itch.
Happy weekend reading, bibliophiles! Feel free to follow me on Instagram @emandhercat, and check out my other newsletters, The Fright Stuff and Book Radar!