Brought to you by Penguin.

To command narrative is to control a sometimes frightening power. What is it that turbocharges some tales, and how is it possible to harness that potency?

John Yorke's groundbreaking bestseller, Into the Woods, revolutionized our understanding of story structure. This new book delves deeper – into how to put that structure to work in the world. Trip to the Moon takes us on a journey not just through drama and fiction but through politics, religion and non-Western narrative, to seek out the role of story in all our lives, examining how to utilize its lessons to create life-changing tales – and, in a world aflame with conspiracy theories, to guard ourselves against their darker purpose too.

Revealing the artful symmetry and underlying principles that connect summer beach reads to Classical Chinese poetry, superhero flicks to Russian arthouse, and classical rhetoric to state propaganda, Yorke makes dazzling connections, revealing the reasons why some stories cause wars, some move mountains and a select few cross culture, language and form.

Trip to the Moon is the answer to why the greatest narratives, the ones that haunt us, that inspire us, have such a grip on our imagination. Only through story, can we transfigure the chaos of our existence into a new equilibrium, and make the world anew.

© John Yorke 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026