Victorian Psycho is a wonderfully grotesque and uniquely written work of historical fiction about a governess beginning a new job with the Pounds family. This one is short and not so sweet, and Feito’s deftly detailed and wholly original writing style will knock your socks off. Her abnormally delicious way of describing events, both expected and unexpected (more of the latter), are inventive and creative.
Winifred Notty arrives at the Pounds’ family estate, Ensor House, to fill the role of governess to 13-year-old defiant Drusilla and entitled little lord 8-year-old Andrew. Mr. Pounds is lecherous while Mrs. Pounds is the picture of Victorian restraint. Winifred is certainly a psychopath or sociopath, occasionally letting her mask of normalcy fall before she quickly recovers to fit the role society has assigned her. Winifred observes the children, their parents, the social callers, and help with a chilling curiosity that is somehow also detached, almost clinical at times. Her cool detachment remains in her darkest acts, treating these gory instances as mere curiosities.
The reader sees glimpses of Winifred’s dark childhood, from a brief stint at a girls’ home to her mother’s physical abuse and perpetual claim that Winifred’s father was a the devil. Some readers may expect a sort of righteous desire for vengeance from Winifred, but really all she wants is the purity of violence to sate her malevolent desires. Feito has no doubt injected themes of class and gender, yet has placed them atop the narrative of a woman who is an antihero. Readers will feel they are being pulled in different directions by Winifred’s motivations (or lack thereof), but rest assured that Virginia Feito’s writing is impeccable and creative enough to keep even the squeamish around for this short read.
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