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We asked Cora Harrison to come up with her dream Debutantes cast list and here's what she had to say:

The Debutantes is above all a story of dreams – the dreams of four young girls who are shut up in a freezing cold house and feel that nothing lies ahead of them, but poverty and old age.

But they dream of something different and those dreams lead them away from the life that they lead and into a different world.

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Everyone can dream.

And at the moment I am dreaming of a film about ‘The Debutantes’.

In the book Daisy has a dream and that is to become a film-director – to make films for the new and exciting medium which was cinema in the 1920’s.

I would love to do that.

I am no good with my hands – I cannot draw, nor paint, but I think I would love to make a film, to pick out the shots that would tell the story. And, above all, the early nineteen-twenties, the time of silent films, was a time when the picture did really tell the story.

Where the wonderful building, now starting to go to rack and ruin, hides the secrets of past generations.

I think that Jeremy Irons could do this part very well and that the sudden fits of rage and of depression that are the legacy of his experiences in The Great War would come very naturally to him.

The girls, the four daughters of the Earl of Derrington are the main characters in the book. They are on the verge of adult life and already rebelling against the old-fashioned Victorian notion that they will have no say in their future – that their only salvation is to marry well. Violet wants to be a film star; Daisy a film director; Poppy a famous jazz musician and Rose a writer – journalist and then a novelist.

What about Claire Foy? She has the glamour and the slightly 1920s look about her mouth. And she has the beautiful blue eyes that are the main feature of Violet in my book.

And then there is Poppy. Poppy the gifted musician, the strange girl, devastated by her mother’s death, whose refuge is music and the companionship of the ‘jazz band’ – the choice of a star to act her part is a difficult one, but I do think that Lucy Boynton could do it. She has the looks and a certain spirituality that seems to suggest a talented artist.

And Daisy, Poppy’s twin; dear Daisy, always concerned for the family, trying to do her best to achieve her own dream of being a film producer, but also of achieving the potential which is within each one of her sisters. Sensitive, practical, slightly insecure, Daisy needs a special actress and I thought of Holliday Grainger. I love her mouth and her eyes are just perfect for Daisy:

And last of all the sisters comes Rose. Rose is only fourteen years old, but already there are signs of genius. She writes continuously, wants to be a novelist, but at the moment shows her greatest talents in her clever title boards for Daisy’s films and in her clever and witty newspaper headline-type comments on the world around her. She will be a difficult part as she is clever, yet young; she will have to comment on what is going on with her sisters’ lives 

and yet still appear to be a normal fourteen-year-old. Rose is dark-haired and Elle Fanning is blonde, but there is something about the eyes and about the tilt of the chin which makes me feel that she could do this witty and clever part.

So have I chosen well, or badly? What do you think? Over to you to play your part in this fantasy film-making. I would love to hear your views.