Earlier this year it was reported that Ralph Fiennes was to follow up his directorial debut with an Abi Morgan scripted adaptation of Claire Tomalin’s book The Invisible Woman and with last night’s triumph for Vanessa Redgrave at the British Independent Film Awards for her Best Supporting Actress win for Coriolanus it is being reported that Fiennes has found his leading lady for his next film.

Felicity Jones was rumoured to be in contention for the role along with Carey Mulligan, Abbie Cornish and Imogen Poots and now Baz Bamigboye is reporting that Jones has signed up to play Nelly Ternan, the woman with whom Charles Dickens had a relationship for the last thirteen years of his life.

2011 has been quite a year for Jones with roles in Julie Taymor’s The Tempest and Drake Doremus’s Like Crazy as well as making Chalet Girl better than it had any right to be and doing some great work in Niall MacCormick’s Albatross. No word yet on who Fiennes is looking to play Dickens but it seems he won’t be repeating his dual role from his debut feature and playing the role himself.

The film is set for release in 2013.