Ronald Harwood just can’t escape the World War Two era.
The Pianist scriptwriter has been tasked by Universal with adapting Irene Nemirosky’s novel Suite Francaise. The book, set in 1940, follows a romance between a French village woman and a German soldier during an occupation.
Nemirovsky herself has a tragic history – she was a beloved writer in pre-War France, but ended up being sent to Auschwitz, where she died. Suite was discovered after her death, but her family originally believed that the material was a diary until they discovered extra parts and found that it was a set of five novels.
"They are magnificent novellas, both in substance and because of the circumstances under which they were written," Harwood told Variety. "Obviously, I'm drawn to the period, and what this story reveals about the nature of humans when they are under threat."