Frank Foley
Frank Foley
Literature Lover Series!
Online Discussion Groups
One Book. Three Weeks ... Infinite meanings.
Here's an invitation. I extend it to you in the spirit of hospitality - join my monthly online study groups and experience literature differently!
Join us for two hours a week and let's create a space — a kind of sanctuary — where we can think about life in a different way.
Each monthly group takes one superb novel and explores it over three weeks. But this isn't about being told what the book means! Instead, we'll discuss, share, notice, question, consider and explore together. We'll follow the book through its stories, language and ideas — and see where they take us.
Awaken the literature lover within!
We will explore different perspectives, human experience, how we see the world, and how we see ourselves. We'll share the things we notice, listen for the things we missed, and we will tell our stories.You don't need to be an academic or a literary expert. Just bring the book, your curiosity, and the parts of the book that got your attention - what it stirred in you!.The book is the starting point. The conversation is the journey. We meet around each book, but we won't stay inside it. We have the freedom to roam...
So let's step through this doorway together and see where it takes us. One book. Three 2-hour sessions. A group of curious people. And an ongoing flow of meaningful discussions.
These groups offer you a chance to slow down, think differently, hear other perspectives, share a few stories — and perhaps notice something you hadn't noticed before - about the book, the world, and yourself!
Come and experience a whole new world of conversation!
Schedule
Autumn 2026
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
3 online sessions - Sundays 18th, 25th October, 1st November, 4 - 6 pm (UK)
A publishing phenomenon when it was released in 2006, The Elegance of the Hedgehog asks existential questions about identity, meaning, and finding purpose in life, as well as exploring issues such as class, the value of art, and the obvious, but easily overlooked difference between appearance and reality.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a fascinating novel full of philosophical and cultural allusions, and always sparks interesting discussions in class, so book your place today!
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
3 online sessions - Sundays 15th, 22nd, 29th November, 4 - 6 pm (UK)
Michael Ondaatje is a Canadian poet, novelist and film-maker, born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1943. He has published seven novels and a number of poetry collections, and won the Booker Prize in 1992 for his novel, The English Patient.
Set in Italy during the Second World War, the novel interweaves the stories of four disparate characters as they try to make sense of their broken lives. The novel addresses questions of identity and character, and the context in which this is judged, as well as issues of race, ownership and boundaries, and the importance of stories.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
3 online sessions - Sundays 6th, 13th, 20th December, 4 - 6 pm (UK)
July 1956. Darlington Hall has a new American owner. Lord Darlington is dead, and his butler, Stevens, carries on as he always has.
But change stirs memory, and Stevens will soon begin a journey that will take him out of the house and into recollections of the past, forcing him, for the first time in years, to re-evaluate his life and missed opportunities.
In this 3-week course we will explore Ishiguro's understated and deceptive novel, reading between the lines and under the surfaces to explore issues of memory and the past, repression and suppression, and unreliable narration.
Winter 2027
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
3 online sessions from Wednesday 13th January, 7 - 9 pm (UK)
Mary Shelley (1797-1851) was an English novelist known for her novel, Frankenstein, which she began writing when she was just eighteen. Mary's father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and women's rights advocate, Mary Wollstonecraft.
Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus was first published in 1818, and tells the story of Victor Frankenstein who, in the name of scientific progress, creates a creature capable of conscious thought and self reflection. The novel addresses questions of identity, social values and judgement, and the consequences of actions.
Atonement by Ian McEwan
3 online sessions from Wednesday 10th February, 7 - 9 pm (UK)
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McEwan's superbly structured 2001 novel is a masterpiece of style, plot, and revelation.
Through the character of thirteen year old Briony Tallis, McEwan weaves a story that is vivid, compelling and perfectly structured, and at the same time, skilfully unpicks the stitches of the concept of story itself. Atonement is an homage to various historical literary movements, an exploration of storytelling, and a laying bare of passive reading.
It is a trick, a sleight-of-word, if you will, inveigling the trusting reader into believing things that aren’t “true”. (But don’t all novelists do that?)
Join me for an exploration of this superb novel!
That Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3 online sessions from Wednesday 17th March, 7 - 9 pm (UK)
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer, born in Enugu in 1977. She has published three novels; Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013). In 2014, Adichie published the book-length essay, We Should All Be Feminists.
The short-story collection, That Thing Around Your Neck was published in 2009, to largely positive reviews. It consists of 12 stories exploring ideas concerning feminism, Nigerian and American culture, corruption, domestic violence, and Western colonialism.
This is a 3-week course exploring a selection of stories from the collection.
Spring 2027
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
3 online sessions from Wednesday 14th April, 7 - 9 pm (UK)
Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer Prize for her wonderful 2009 book Olive Kitteridge. Marketed as a novel, but more accurately described as a collection of linked short stories, Olive Kitteridge is a superb work of fiction.
In this session, we'll focus on the story, "Incoming Tide" an exquisitely crafted story dealing with unbearable pain, death, love, opportune moments, and the value of human connection.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
3 online sessions from Wednesday 12th May, 7 - 9 pm (UK)
Made into an acclaimed film by the Coen brothers, No Country is one of McCarthy's most accessible novels. Set in 1980, in a remote part of the border between the United States and Mexico, the novel explores themes of fate and free will, identity, personal codes of morality, and violence and social order.
Join me for a philosophical and fascinating three weeks!
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
3 online sessions from Wednesday 12th May, 7 - 9 pm (UK)
F Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1941) was an American novelist and short story writer who captured the zeitgeist of the Jazz Age with his novels in the 1920s.
Regarded as one of the great American novels, to some extent The Great Gatsby is a classic tale of poor boy made good in the pursuit of love.
But wrapped in Fitzgerald's symbolism and intricate patterning, and filtered through themes of idealism and the American dream, it becomes one of the great works of 20th century literature.
September - Free Group!
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
2 online sessions Tuesdays 15th & 22nd September, 7 - 9 pm (UK)
Angela Carter (1940-1992) was one of the preeminent British writers of the post-war period. She wrote novels, short stories, and poems, as well as non-fiction articles and journalism.
Carter's superb 1979 story collection, The Bloody Chamber, consists of ten short stories which rework well-known classic fairy tales, opening them to contemporary social, political and feminist readings.
This 2-week introduction to my Literature Lover groups will explore stories from The Bloody Chamber, including reworkings of Bluebeard, the Beauty and the Beast story ("The Courtship of My Lyon" and "Tiger's Bride") and The Company of Wolves, made into a film in 1984.
We will meet for two 2-hour online sessions, via Zoom. This group is free to attend, so please join me!
Grand Union by Zadie Smith
Stories
3 sessions from tba
Born in 1975, Zadie Smith is an English writer, who has published numerous works, including novels, short stories, plays and essays. Her first novel, On Beauty (2000) was published to wide acclaim and was an immediate best-seller.
Smith's short story collection, Grand Union was published in 2019. It includes 19 stories, which together display the range of her intellect, wit and mastery of the short story form.
A Way of Being Free by Ben Okri
Essays
3 sessions from Wednesday 12th January 2022
A Way of Being Free (1997) is a collection of twelve previously published essays by Nigerian writer, Ben Okri, best known for his 1991 Booker Prize winning novel, The Famished Road.
This short course celebrates freedom, creativity and the magic of stories through this wonderful collection! Evocative and poetic, it is a passionate, almost spiritual, celebration of storytelling and the creative imagination.
Over three weeks we will discuss themes including identity, freedom and the power of stories to shape our lives.