Knitting, the first novel from ghostwriter and former professional knitter Anne Bartlett, tells the story of a newly widowed academic and her unexpected friendship with a gifted knitter that enables her to move on with her life. Bartlett’s rich (and uncredited) experience of writing other people’s stories puts this intimate exploration of women’s friendships in a different category from your average ‘chick lit’. Age journalist Graham Reilly is another writer who transcends his genre in Five Oranges, a crime novel about the ragtag adventures of a tight-knit circle of working-class Glaswegian friends and their on–off tangles with the Saigon mob. Part of the reason that these two novels are so much better than many in their respective genres could be that they go beyond formula and caricature. Both books explore the related concepts of the families that we build for ourselves, and the small things that make a life worth living, even from the depths of despair. Bartlett and Reilly paint richly detailed portraits of their respective settings (Adelaide and Glasgow, Saigon and Melbourne) that root their stories firmly in a sense of place and invite the reader to enter their worlds.