Winifred Notty is a character like no other, and one you’ll probably hope never to meet again. I’m almost afraid to introduce you to her. She has left quite a lot of --- shall we call them --- eye-opening deeds in her past. Devastating would be more accurate.

Over her short career, Winifred has been employed as a governess for several families. We don’t know exactly how many, which may be for the best. She will admit that her last engagement might have ended under a bit of a cloud. But she has just arrived at Ensor House and vows to put all that unpleasantness behind her. She tells herself that this time will be different. All it will take is keeping the Darkness under control. Starting anew, she’ll be the perfect governess for the Pounds children, Drusilla and Andrew, even though they are despicable little snots.

"VICTORIAN PSYCHO takes a strong stomach to read through. It’s a small book with a big message, so it’s more than worth the journey."

It is the run-up to Christmas, and Winifred would like to enjoy a pleasant yuletide this year. If only the people at Ensor House would stop annoying her. Mr. and Mrs. Pounds are growing more and more insufferable by the day. Drusilla and Andrew don’t seem interested in learning anything. And the other servants are all sycophants. Winifred can’t understand protocols, and the class system that’s rampant at the time is absurd, not to mention often advantageous to idiots. As for the double standard between women and men, she simply refuses to play by those rules.

As the big day grows closer, the Darkness in Winifred is fighting hard to get out. It is, in fact, germinating an idea for a very special gift to be given to the Pounds family. In the meantime, though, she tries to settle into the routine of her job. Oddly enough, she doesn’t like children much, which makes her choice of profession somewhat ridiculous. But if she were to be honest, she doesn’t especially like people of any size or age, so finding a suitable line of work would be difficult in any case.

However, governess at Ensor House will do nicely for now. Winifred just needs to tamp down the Darkness within her, and life here will run smoothly. But she feels it growing restless. Considering everything she has to put up with, it won’t be her fault if she can’t control it. Mr. Pounds doesn’t even try to keep his wandering eye --- an eye that tends to travel toward her ample cleavage --- to himself. When this happens, she simply has to use it to her advantage. The opportunity is too rich, and Mr. Pounds is too easy of a victim. The lady of the house, though, is another matter entirely. Mrs. Pounds will require a different sort of attention, and she knows just what that is.

Meanwhile, Winifred bides her time, which is growing short, at least in part because of her insidious quirks --- biting, ear licking, humorous taunts about eating children. These behaviors already have earned her an unsavory reputation among the rest of the Ensor House staff. She simply must hold out until Christmas. And she does. But then the storm hits, right during the Christmas dinner party, trapping the guests at Ensor House. Too bad for them.

Virginia Feito’s VICTORIAN PSYCHO takes a strong stomach to read through. It’s a small book with a big message, so it’s more than worth the journey. It attacks societal norms of the day and rips them apart --- or at least Winifred Notty does. And speaking of Winifred, it seems highly unlikely that anyone will fall in love with her. But no one will forget her --- or this novel.