Stoke-on-Trent, 1892. This is Ellen. She’s twenty-two years old. And she can’t stop vomiting. Ellen is a pottery dipper—she dips ceramic plates and bowls into lead glaze before firing. The glaze makes pottery shiny and smooth. It’s mostly lead. She holds each piece, dips it into the liquid glaze, hangs it to dry. Her hands are coated in lead all day. The glaze dust fills the air. She breathes it constantly. After six months: The stomach pains started. Lead colic—cramping so severe she’d double over. After a year: She couldn’t keep food down. Constant vomiting. Her gums turned blue-black. Now: Her hands shake. She drops the pottery constantly. Gets screamed at for breaking pieces. But she can’t control the tremor—her nervous system is failing. She’s twenty-two. She’ll be dead within a year. Lead poisoning destroys everything—brain, kidneys, bones, blood. The pottery she glazed is in wealthy homes across Britain. Beautiful shiny plates. Deadly to make. Stoke-on-Trent, 1892. When women di...