Rich in Small Things

What do you do when you owe the Ukrainian mafia a huge amount of money that you don’t have? Drive a twenty-year old ambulance ten thousand kilometers from London to the remotest country in the world, of course. Not to run away, you understand, but to bag your share of a million pound cash prize. Melissa, a suddenly unemployed City trader, finds herself stunningly in debt to Victor, a leading light in the Ukrainian mafia following an unlucky hand in an underground poker game in East London. Escaping to her grandmother’s flat in Hammersmith, she is reunited with old school mate Julia, who offers her the chance to take part in the Ulaanbaatar Cup – where competitors drive to the capital of Mongolia in chase of a one million pound cash prize. In the high-pressure atmosphere of challenge, sabotage, espionage, misinformation and unmitigated disasters with Melissa’s future up against the clock, against all odds she finds herself having more fun than she can remember, forging friendships that will last for life and falling head over heels in love. But what will happen when she returns to London?

What do you do when you owe the Ukrainian mafia a huge amount of money that you don’t have? Drive a twenty-year old ambulance ten thousand kilometers from London to the remotest country in the world, of course. Not to run away, you understand, but to bag your share of a million pound cash prize. Melissa, a suddenly unemployed City trader, finds herself stunningly in debt to Victor, a leading light in the Ukrainian mafia following an unlucky hand in an underground poker game in East London. Escaping to her grandmother’s flat in Hammersmith, she is reunited with old school mate Julia, who offers her the chance to take part in the Ulaanbaatar Cup – where competitors drive to the capital of Mongolia in chase of a one million pound cash prize. In the high-pressure atmosphere of challenge, sabotage, espionage, misinformation and unmitigated disasters with Melissa’s future up against the clock, against all odds she finds herself having more fun than she can remember, forging friendships that will last for life and falling head over heels in love. But what will happen when she returns to London?

Helen J Beal is the author of three novels - Thirty Seconds Before Midnight, Rich in Small Things and Riding a Tiger and a collection of short stories - Half a Dozen Star Jumps. Helen is a British writer living in Chichester on the south coast of England and is an English Literature and Language alumni of London University.