‘Victorian Psycho’ – Virginia Feito (4th Estate)
Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect Victorian governess. She’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But the longer Winifred spends within the estate’s dreary confines and the more she learns of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family, the more trouble she has sticking to her plan.
Whether creeping across the moonlit lawns in her undergarments or gently tormenting the house staff, Winifred struggles at every turn to stifle the horrid compulsions of her past until her chillingly dark imagination breaches the feeble boundary of reality on Christmas morning.
Long time readers of this blog have probably worked out, by now, that while I don’t mind a little gothic fiction (every now and then), you will likely never find a books featuring Victorian governesses in my TBR pile. Until now that is :o)
When a title and blurb like this appear on my radar, I’m more or less instantly sold on the read; even when I’m trying my hardest not to buy more books this side of Christmas. I settled down for a read, yesterday evening, and…
It’s not often, these days, that I come across a book that I absolutely have to finish off in one sitting so after reading ‘Fever House’, I thought it would be a while before I came across another ‘must keep reading’ book. Well, turns out I was wrong :o) ‘Victorian Psycho’ is a viciously funny, and just plain vicious, read, all at the same time. I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to top it, with my next read, but the fun is in trying, right? ;o)
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the title (and the blurb) gives too much away but don’t worry, you’re only half right ;o) ‘Victorian Psycho’ is very clear in its intent but still has the capacity to surprise you at just the right moment. You know what’s coming but the joy is in finding out why.
And it is a joy :o) Winifred Notty is a fascinating character to spend time with and not just because Feito is so adept at feeding us insight into Winifred’s character, just when its needed. Winifred does evil things, is she evil though? Maybe, maybe not, there’s a lot to think about here as far as Winifred goes, not least in light of what Feito has to say about about the treatment of women in that era. What I really ended up being invested in though was how Winifred’s capacity for impulsive violence can suddenly send the plot careening off in new directions as she either struggles to stick to the plan or just has to take a little time out to clean up the mess she has made. ‘Victorian Psycho’ takes the whole ‘comedy of errors’ thing to a level that I haven’t seen since I watched ‘The Coffee Table’ (and take that as a content warning, new Mums should probably approach this book with caution), it really keeps you on your toes. And when it comes up with quotes like the following… it’s bloody hilarious (pun intended, a little bit).
‘I prepare the parcel, which I will send anonymously to a Benedictine nunnery in Lancashire, with a note that reads Sorry, here’s another one.’
A certain sense of humour is required for this book and luckily enough, it matches mine :o)
‘Victorian Psycho’ is a hell of a read that requires a strong stomach and the ability not to feel too guilty about what you find yourself laughing at; just what this reader needed.
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