Keira Knightley has signed up to star in a film version of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement.

Director Joe Wright met with the actress at the Soho House Oscar week retreat in the Hollywood hills last week. Their partnership earned Knightley her Oscar nomination for Pride And Prejudice, while Wright publicly questioned the Bafta's failure to nominate her for best actress.

Knightley has reportedly refused several other roles to work with Wright on McEwan's acclaimed novel. The book is an emotional tale set in the 1930s and 40s.

First it focuses on a 13-year-old girl and her Cambridge-graduate older sister Cecilia, the part to be played by Knightley. The story then moves to France in 1940, depicting the horrors of World War Two.

Wright plans to re-create the Dunkirk landings in the old fishing ports at Redcar and Grimsby. Filming is set to begin in June.