Irish American actress Rooney Mara has been tipped to play the lead role in the film adaptation of ‘Brooklyn,' the award winning novel by Irish author Colm Toibin.

The book tells the story of a young single Irish woman who emigrates to New York in the 1950s.

Novelist and screenwriter Nick Hornby has penned the adaptation of the novel which was first published in 2009. The project is being developed by producers Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey of London-based Wildgaze Films.

The $25 million adaptation of Toibin’s Brooklyn is set to film in two locations in the Spring of 2013, Posey told the Hollywood Reporter.

The book follows protagonist Ellis (to be played by Mara), who is torn between her old life in small town Ireland and her new found existence in Brooklyn.