Irish-American actress Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) has been cast as the lead in the film adaptation of Camilla Gibb’s 2005 bestselling novel, Sweetness in the Belly.

Zeresenay “Zee” Berhane Mehari (Difret) is set to direct the film, from a screenplay developed by Sienna Films and written by Laura Phillips.

Gibb’s third novel – an immigrant love story that takes place in Ethiopia and the U.K. – won the 2006 Trillium Book Award and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The novel also made the news after Barack Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, revealed herself as a fan.