Virginia Feito's Victorian Psycho (2025)
October '25 Book
Belladonna rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Neo-Victorian Gothic Horror
Description: Following an excruciatingly grisly upbringing, the young and misunderstood Winifred Notty traverses through life, plagued by intrusive thoughts and a murderous sense of righteousness. Consistently unloved and a stranger to compassion, Winfred's sole companion is an all-consuming "Fred" who encourages transgressive compulsions she cannot control but is destined to keep repeating. Despite her solitary nature and utter dislike of people, Winifred desperately believes that if she only tries harder than before, her position as a governess will be a gateway towards becoming a respectable member of Victorian society. But as weeks bleed into months at the oppressive Ensor House and the abusive Pounds family taunts her into obedience, Winifred effortlessly reverts to the familiar territory of violence. Driven by vindictiveness and an ever-increasing body count, the
Events that transpire during her stay at Grim Wolds are the inevitable culmination of the rapidly deteriorating mental state of a wronged woman subjected to the worst of humanity. Hungering for vengeance and irrevocably succumbing to her psychopathic instincts, Winifred meticulously prepares a feast of nightmares one unassuming Christmas morning, turning the tables of hierarchy and savouring the downfall of the upper class.
Morale of the tale: the tragically ruinous path of a lifetime of unresolved trauma at the hands of social and familial prejudice
Setting: a remote gothic manor in Victorian England (1843)
Themes: mental illness, internal torment, familial abuse, childhood trauma, female oppression, resentment, societal constraints
Descriptors: grotesque, intense, ghastly, vindictive, psychologically torturing, emotionally haunting
Trigger warnings: mental-health struggles, murder & infanticide, graphic violence, bodily horror
Quintessential quote:
"It is early fall, the cold is beginning to descend, and in three months everyone in this house will be dead."