This historical novel is as significant to the present as it is to the past. As a novel, Hellraiser is a more intimate account of the iconoclastic life and times of Mary Harris Jones—known as Mother Jones to thousands—fighter for the rights of the working class and the underclass from the Civil War to the Great Depression. A study in contrasts between the goals and objectives of capitalism and democracy, the book is a journey through some of the most dramatic episodes of American history from post Civil War insurrections and riots, to the historic Chicago Fire and the rise of big business and big labor. Most importantly, the novel brings the story of Mother Jones full circle, comparing the issues of her time to the social, political and economic troubles of the present. “Telling the story through Mother Jones required me to get inside her skin, climb inside her body, see through her eyes, think through her mind, feel through her heart. The result has been a personal epiphany that has enlightened me, if not turned me around,” says author Jerry Ash.