They called it rescue. But Elsie was sent to the laundry. Manchester, 1908. She is eighteen years old. Poor. Judged. Labelled “fallen” by respectable people who believed hard work could cleanse her. The institution did not call it punishment. It called it training. Moral reform. Rescue. But the laundry did not feel like rescue. The air was wet with steam. The sheets were endless. The rules followed her from morning until night. Silence at work. Silence at meals. Silence in the dormitory. A matron held the keys. A committee held the records. And Elsie held the linen. Other people’s clothes. Other people’s bedsheets. Other people’s respectability. If she obeyed, they said she was improving. If she complained, they said she proved why she belonged there. Elsie is a composite character, representing the young women sent into institutions that claimed to save them while controlling their labour, choices, and futures. So what do you think? Was this rescue — or pun...