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A Novel
by Virginia Feito
From the acclaimed author of Mrs. March comes the riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance.
Virginia Feito's Mrs. March was hailed as "a brilliant debut ... [by] a writer who keeps pace with the grandees she invokes" (Sarah Ditum, Guardian)―from Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson to Patricia Highsmith. Now, Feito returns with her "silver-polish sentences and her eerie psychological acumen" (Constance Grady, Vox) to unleash an entirely new antihero on us all.
Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess―she'll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate's dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family―Mr. Pounds can't keep his eyes off Winifred's chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband's wandering gaze. Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery ... and creeping across the moonlit lawns... .
Patience. Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor House. Brimming with sardonic wit and culminating in a shocking conclusion, Victorian Psycho plunges readers into the chilling mind of an iconic new literary psychopath.
"[A] bold and mordant gothic novel...Fans of psychological horror will be enthralled." —Publishers Weekly
"A twisted, bloodthirsty governess celebrates Christmas with her new employers. Where ironic horror and horrific irony meet, this unbridled madhouse of a novel dazzles like a bloody jewel." ―Kirkus Reviews
"A deliciously devious new book." ―People
"Riotous, devilishly clever, and deliciously appalling, Victorian Psycho is flat-out brilliant. No one is spared (not even us) from Winifred's wrathful whims while Virginia Feito deftly presents the case that Winifred is being quite reasonable. Long live Winifred! She is the antihero this, or any other, century deserves." ―Paul Tremblay, New York Times best-selling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts
"Victorian Psycho is that rare, extraordinary book that both delivers and completely confounds all your expectations... . By drawing from the roots of the gothic, Virginia Feito seems to have invented an entirely new kind of storytelling. From the first to the last line, this novel is nothing less than a masterpiece." ―Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street
"Relentlessly moody, in the best possible way, Victorian Psycho asks how anyone could live sanely in a time so systemically cruel. Atmospheric, funny, bloody as hell―I finished it in one sitting." ―Ainslie Hogarth, author of Motherthing and Normal Women
This information about Victorian Psycho was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Virginia Feito, raised in Madrid and Paris, studied English and drama at Queen Mary University of London and advertising at Miami Ad School. She writes regularly for Vanity Fair Spain and is the author of the acclaimed Mrs. March.
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