Clare's Café highlights w/c 8 May

There isn't much historical fact to go on when it comes to Thomas C but if anyone can think themselves into the mindset of this most influential court player, it is Hilary Mantel. We ought to fear and loathe him but by the end of Wolf Hall, we are in thrall to him. So, we catch up with TC in the year 1535 - a momentous one because the old queen, Katherine, is dying and Anne Boleyn sits at Henry's side. However, there's a snag. He's going off her fast, mainly because she's failed to produce a male heir and he's now got Jane Seymour in his sights as marital option number 3.. Who cares if she's underwhelming on the looks front, Henry is besotted. All this spells more hassle for Cromwell who has to work it all out without making things worse (the curse of middle management). But in many ways the royals are the sideshow in this story - it's about the man at the heart of this power - Cromwell - a man born of lowly stock and now one of the most influential men in England. To take a historical character we know so little about and put flesh on him so convincingly is quite a trick to pull off. Hilary Mantel has done it though and we readers continue to be astounded and impressed by the way this man negotiates his way round the myriad diplomatic mines strewn all over the place. As a history freak, I was bound to love this book but it works on so many other levels. It's very modern, ironic, knowing, dark and funny and the dialogue is pitch perfect. In short BRING UP THE BODIES works as a stand-alone book so no need to read Wolf Hall to get your bearings.

A footnote about Ms Mantel. We wer broadcasting live on a Bank Holiday Monday; I don't know many other authors who could be bothered showing up on a day that most of the nation takes off. The fact that she sat outside the Exeter studios in her car for the best part of an hour before coming on to talk to us for a fraction of that time made the Book Café team all the more impressed. I asked her if she thought she might be on for a second Man Booker with this sequel and Hilary Mantel coquettishly replied that she only had one good dress and she'd used that!. If I were Ms Mantel's publishers, I'd be taking her out for a spot of frock shopping v soon.

We spoke of shopping on Tuesday's Culture Café, actually just about everything BUT shopping came up as writer Ewan Morrison told me about his three years' worth of researching shopping malls. The resulting collection of short stories is called TALES FROM THE MALL. It's a real gallimaufry, crammed with facts and observations - psychological, sociological, anthropological - all the 'als' are in there, and then some. I loved the story of Rena the Cleana - a deeply bigoted woman who managed to talk a "jumper" off the roof of her shopping mall. She had an unorthodox approach to life saving i.e. inadvertent. There were no soft, reassuring tones. Instead Rena remonstrated with this suicidal man who also happened to be Asian. She didn't like that and she certainly didn't like the idea of having to clean up the mess he'd leave if he chose to end it all on her shift. That's just one story out of dozens that surprised me about the malls... it seems they hold so many weird secrets; the car parks are particularly worthy of attention. Ewan explained that this is the perfect place for practicing transvestites to hang out. As soon as the Culture Cafe came off air, I jumped in my car and headed for Braehead Mall. (I realize it looks as if I am heading somewhere personal with this - trust me, I am merely an observer!) Sadly, the car park was empty, bar the slightly forlorn figure of a bunnet-sporting pensioner - not a good look on anyone. I'll give it another whirl next week.

A final word on the fleeting visit to my PQ6 studio of talent show winner Connie Fisher (she was on her way to rehearsals for a show in Glasgow that night). Eagle eyed BBC TV viewers will recognise Connie from the HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA show which she won and from then on in, it's been a wonderful life for the girl from Pembrokeshire apart from one major set-back .Her voice started to fail in 2009 and she was out of action for a long time, at one point she didn't know if she would sing properly again. Now, she is back in fine fettle with a slightly deeper (sexier?) voice and you can catch her at Glasgow's Kings in WONDERFUL TOWN. She was really upbeat and looking forward to the performance but she had some things on her mind namely, the stage was smaller than expected and it had a camber that tipped the performers forward towards the audience. So, apart from the singing, not bumping into furniture and remembering all her lines, this was going to be a piece of cake to pull off. As they say in Wales, "tidy!".

Makes my job seem like a breeze.....