You know how comedians talk about having a tight five - this is like a tight five of a book. I don’t mean it’s a laugh a line, rather that Feito has trimmed the fat from this to the point you can romp through it at breakneck speed, missing nothing and loving every minute. If you had the time, you could devour this in a single sitting.

Dark, gruesome, hilarious, wild, weird. I loved how this felt true to its Victorian gothic roots but also incredibly modern. Our protagonist and narrator, Winifred Notty, governess to the Pounds family, is abhorrent and indiscriminate in her choice of victims, and yet the vile upperclass are still shown through a critical lens and there are moments of excellent social commentary.

I always enjoy an unreliable narrator and Miss Notty definitely keeps you on your toes - did she really just do that? Was she imagining that? Is that exactly how it happened? You’ll be left with questions when you finish this book, perhaps wanting to go back and reread certain sections, but not in a way that leaves you dissatisfied. I also really loved how she directly addresses the reader throughout.

I absolutely loved this and will definitely need to check out Feito’s debut and any works that follow this. Thanks so much to 4th Estate for sharing the e-ARC with me - the second I saw it, I knew I had to read it and it’s always such a pleasure when a book lives up to your expectations!

Was it believable? No. Did that bother me? Absolutely not. I confess that I can get a little irked when storylines get too far fetched and although this book was totally bonkers and some of the stuff that happens if it had happened in another book my logical brain would be telling me ‘that’s impossible’ etc. But I think, from quite early on in the book we can tell that our MC is unstable!

This book is very dark and should have all the trigger warnings, yet, I sped through it and was completely engrossed by it.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #4thEstate and #WilliamCollins for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderfully perverse, sometimes bleakly comic take on the Victorian gothic, served up with more than a dash of sensation fiction and a generous dollop of penny dreadful. Outwardly-dutiful governess Winifred Notty is a subversive, unsettling cross between Jane Eyre and Michael Myers, her gruesome past slowly revealed after she takes charge of the son and daughter of the wealthy Pound family. It’s England in the 1850s, the Pounds reside in their isolated, rural, ancestral home Ensor House, its overblown trappings and rigid hierarchies signifying the suffocating excesses and social inequalities of Victorian England – references to James Ensor’s bizarre artwork one of several (heavy) hints at what’s to come. And it’s soon obvious that what’s to come is likely to be a bloodbath, albeit with some unexpected twists and turns along the way.

Feito’s narrative’s deliberately – sometimes ridiculously - over the top culminating in a macabre rescripting of A Christmas Carol. Body horror with a feminist slant, Feito’s combination of revenge fantasy and gorefest plays out like a slow-motion slasher movie – a film version’s already in the works. Feito knows her Victorians, weaving into Notty’s story ongoing commentary on the period’s widespread repression and depravity: from the casual exploitation of the impoverished and enslaved to the prolific murders of babies by foster carers like the notorious Amelia Dyer to the women confined for apparent signs of hysteria and the children tied up at night to guard against masturbation. Although the pacing could be more even, and the critique of gender roles more sophisticated, at its best this is gloriously grisly fun.

This book is utterly mad and incredibly dark. Winifred Notty is employed as a governess to the Pounds children but from page one you know that something isn't quite right. Flashes of the past - or is it the future? - indicate a troubled childhood and more than that in adulthood. Rapidly gaining pace, this novel presents Winifred as the ultimate unreliable narrator, murdering half the house before the reader can catch up with her. The whole thing feels like a fever dream you can't wake up from.

Gothic, grim and gory. This was so much fun to read! Winifred is not your typical governess, in fact she’s much worse. Her unreliable narration sheds light on her horrific past, with a traumatic childhood and murdered mother seeming tame compared to her inner thoughts. I adored the writing, it was stomach turning and disturbing with just enough mystery to keep me hooked on what was going to happen next. This was horror at its best, from the gruesome descriptions to the unjustifiable and unspeakable violence. I do wish the ending wasn’t as rushed, but apart from that, a spine tingling read.

Firstly I like the cover and it was a fast read. Plot wise? There wasn’t really one., It was a very strange book and a little deranged by the end which I didn’t hate but just felt like I didn’t really get anything from it when I finished?

Thanks to netgalley for providing an ecopy of this book on exchange for an honest review.

This book was a surprise hit for me. It had all of the elements that I love: good writing, strong

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. characters and of course, a little gothic horror thrown in.

Victorian Psycho is so so cool! I rated 5 stars because I loved the experience of reading it and the storyline is immaculate! I totally recommend everyone to read this.

Possible spoilers

This one should come with several warnings. It's gruesome, and bloody and violent.
It's also incredibly good fun.
Fred seems to rampage through life leaving a trail of corpses in her wake, and gets away with it.
She has some cracking lines that had me outraged, in the best possible way.
The whole thing builds up to a frenzy, and ending chapters that are quite something.
I found the whole thing thoroughly enjoyable, but not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

This is one hell of a ride. I absolutely loved this. It's a dark take on Victorian gothic but instead of the couch fainting governess we have a psychopathic, queer, feminist one. It's a breath of fresh air.
Clever take on themes of misogyny, imperialism and class. I liked the use of imagery to conjure such a dark and twisted atmosphere. It's a deftly written book. The descriptions of the food alone are a standalone horror film.
Perfection. I loved her previous book and this is equally as good.

Young governess, Winifred Notty, arrives at Ensor House to start her new role. With only a few belongings and her dark past in tow, things soon become unsettled in this incredibly captivating read!


Short Thoughts: The comedy here comes fast, hard, and beautifully dark. I frequently found myself blindsided, mouth agape, and loved every second of it.

Notty is a vile, brutal and enchanting protagonist. Her voice, as narrator, is superb and I really wish it could’ve been longer because I wasn’t ready to leave her story.

It’s an incredibly graphic read and I’m sure many people will be talking about the acts of violence within: It’s an absolute blast. The story, while not complex, is a whirlwind of excitement as you watch the gradual decline to its perfect final third.

Within the first twenty pages, I’d already preordered my physical copy because I will be rereading this as soon as it arrives.

I knew somewhere out there is a book written for me, I was absolutely sure I was going to love this and I wasn’t wrong. I must have been Whinifred Notty in a previous life, she is an absolute psycho, so witty, funny and sarcastic. I needed more of her, but the story is just a perfection of a mess. It was short and it read so fast, I needed it to be longer. I cannot have enough of this Victorian time psychopath. How am I now supposed to satisfy my hunger for more murderous governesses? This year starts with a bang, please read this as soon as it comes out and lets obsess over it together.
10 f****** stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC of my most anticipated book of the year.

Woah! I was not prepared for this book!
It was deliciously dark, funny, disturbing, and shocking.
Winifred is a complex character who makes bold choices and has the most grotesque of thoughts. Some that made my stomach roil but she is a psychopath, after all.
I love the Victorian era. I love a good thriller. This book delivers both so well. The commentary on Victorian society is amusing. The nods to an unhinged mind are unnerving.
The only thing I felt was missing was more of Winifred's background. There are mentions but she's such a fascinating character that I want to know more about her.
Prepare yourself before reading this book, particularly for THAT ending.

This was a very unsettling read at times. Interesting, engaging and very readable. I thought it was well-plotted and enjoyed the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

This is a unique bold story, that holds a very sarcastic bold tone throughout.

The writing style left me engrossed, it feels like a gender reversed version of American Psycho with a sociopathic antiheroine as its focal point.

A brilliant gothic historical novel, that I throughly enjoyed, although I do feel like I need to re read certain bits. I will be purchasing Mrs March and anything else the author releases.

Delightfully depraved and very funny.

I really enjoyed Victorian Psycho - more than expected. I would be very excited to see what this author does next. I will certainly be readings Mrs March.