McEwan's Atonement will hit the cinemas in December, according to the press. A slew of media releases and shots have hit reporters' desks this week in the lead-up to what will without a shadow of doubt place McEwan in clover.

And it's about time. Once known as the 'bad boy' of Brit lit, McEwan more recently finds himself featured in such august media vehicles as Vanity Fair. The name also belongs to the 2004 movie in which Romola Garai (pic) played sense to Reese Witherspoon's sensibility. It is Becky Sharp, after all, who unceremoniously chucks Dr Johnson's dictionary out the coach window as she exits an institution incapable of containing her Romantic angst.

I had a devil of a time finding this snap, cropped in an instant. Ditto with Atonement, where Garai (whose portrayal of Barbara Spooner in Amazing Grace caught this little black duck's attention, for sure) plays the 18-year-old lead. Another actor plays Briony Tallis in childhood.

No probs finding snaps of Keira Knightley. Her natural, svelte silhouette is ideal for the post-war period but it's Garai's Edwardian Tallis I'll be watching closely.