Danny Blanchflower: A Glorious Life by Mike Donovan (Pitch Publishing, £25)Some players were before your time but you just sensed they “had it”. Danny Blanchflower seemed one, his reputation no doubt abetted by my clump of Spurs-supporting uncles who talked about him in only noble terms. Lilywhite lifer Mike Donovan has produced a worthy testament to the Belfast man, deeply researched and smartly formatted, moving away from the “he did this, then that” sports book. Instead he talked to people on the ground: from Glentoran, Barnsley, Villa and Danny’s media work to the Blanchflower family (it’s authorised, but you’d have to travel far to find someone saying a bad word about DB). Where it stands out is in the dedicated chapters where former team-mates and acquaintances talk about DB. You sense the aura of the man, the legend. Recommended. NJ McGarrigleLadies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes by Henry Van Dyke (Faber, £9.99)Here’s a chance to read a truly precious and almost-lost gem of American literature. Henry Van Dyke was an African-American author whose debut novel was so irreverent and charming that it escaped its due recognition when first published, its sophisticated humour and sexuality ahead of its time. Seventeen-year-old Oliver is a precocious poet living in an eccentric household ruled by two older ladies (in love with each other) and a rather silly peacock. When they invite a dodgy warlock named Maurice LeFleur into their home for a seance, the world turns dark and hearts get broken. It’s moving and exquisitely written, it’s pure, joyous queer fun, yet it also expounds the challenges and dangers of being black and gay in a changing world. One word? Fabulous. Helena MulkernsThe Oracle’s Daughter: A Woman’s Escape From Her Mother’s Cult by Harrison Hill (Bridge Street Press, £25)In 1999, at the age of 26, Sarah Green escaped the cult led by her mother Deborah, leaving her children behind. The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps grew out of a hippy-ish new age movement before finding Jesus and subsequently becoming something entirely more sinister, its leaders involved in “a many-starred constellation of criminality”, including child abuse and baby trafficking. Hill forensically examines the origins of the movement, its place amid the wider pantheon of American cults (up to 750,000 Americans were cult members by 1977) and the rise of evangelism. Through the stories of those, like Sarah, who escaped their clutches, and the officers who eventually raided their New Mexico compound in 2017, we learn how the Greens managed to evade the law for decades. Fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. John Walshe