Music superstar Madonna is to try her hand as a film director again, with a romantic tale set on an African island.

She is on board for the screen version of Ade: A Love Story, the debut novel by Rebecca Walker - the daughter of Alice Walker, who wrote The Colour Purple.

The Queen of Pop's last directing effort was in 2011 with WE - a film based around the relationship between King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson, which also featured a contemporary romance.

The film was panned by critics and flopped at the box office, making little over half a million pounds worldwide at cinemas.

Her return behind the camera has been reported by movie website Deadline.com, with Walker herself posting a message online saying: "It's official."

Walker's book tells the story of a US college student who falls in love with a young man she meets on the island of Lamu, off the coast of Kenya. They plan to marry and live a simple life together but there are violent upheavals around them.

The film is to be produced by Bruce Cohen, who shared the best film Oscar for American Beauty and has worked on award-winning films such as Milk and Silver Linings Playbook.

Madonna and the producers are set to appoint a screenwriter to adapt the book.

The singer has also directed an indie comedy, Filth And Wisdom, in 2008.