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Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey's Icon Prods. has optioned the rights to a Libba Bray book trilogy to develop as a bigscreen franchise and set helmer Charles Sturridge to direct the first installment.

Books center on four rebel teens in Victorian England who gain power from access to a mysterious realm. Sturridge will also adapt the first pic, "A Great and Terrible Beauty."

Story centers on Gemma Doyle, a free spirit brought up in India who witnesses the death of her mother. At boarding school she uncovers a conspiracy surrounding her mom's death that draws her into a world of magic and deception.

Sturridge brought the project to Icon and will oversee its development along with Icon prexy-CEO Davey, who is partnering on the project with the U.K.'s Firstsight Films. Sturridge and Davey are producing; Gotham Group's Lindsay Williams and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein exec produces. There is no studio partner on the project as yet.

First two books in the trilogy -- "A Great and Terrible Beauty" and "Rebel Angels" -- were New York Times bestsellers published by Delacorte Books. Third book is due out next year.

Sturridge's most recent helming credits include the small-screen efforts "Gulliver's Travels," "FairyTale: A True Story," "Longitude" and "Shackleton." He directed the feature "Lassie," which will roll out in the U.S. on Sept. 1.