The pop icon has optioned the movie rights to "The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells," the novel's author Andrew Sean Greer told Sfweekly.com.

After "Filth and Wisdom" (2008) and "W.E." (2011), Madonna could be gearing up to try her hand at directing again with this somewhat fantastical project, inspired by a novel published last June.

"The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells" opens in 1985, as Greta Wells struggles to come to grips with both the death of her brother and the end of a relationship.

An electric shock therapy treatment for her depression allows her to experience two very different lives in 1918 and 1941.

Of course, it's a long road from the page to the screen, and for the time being Madonna has simply optioned the rights, as the book's author Andrew Sean Greer points out.