While Taylor Swift was on her “Eras Tour” and being filmed for a documentary series, she was listening to the audiobook version of Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods—and since the footage debuted, daily sales of the book have tripled.
Disney+ released the first two episodes of the six-part documentary chronicling the behind-the-scenes action of Swift’s historic “Eras Tour.” While on her tour, Swift was listening to the audiobook before going on stage and although the moment was only a few seconds long, eagle-eyed fans quickly found the book Swift was listening to online.
Videos about the book flooded social media and Moore told Newsweek that she was “honored” to see her work featured in the docuseries. Swift was listening to the book as a means of calming her nerves before the show and previously told Stephen Colbert that she’s always listening to an audiobook.
Moore added that it was particularly meaningful to her that Swift was listening to her book in “such a vulnerable moment.”
“I hope the book brought her comfort and distraction and maybe even entertainment—and I really admire her strength,” Moore told Newsweek.
Moore added that she also recommends audiobooks and books in general as a “great remedy” for anxiety, something Swift opens up about experiencing in the docuseries.
By the time the documentary was released, The God of the Woods had already sold 1.5 million copies and was a New York Times bestseller. But Riverhead Books told Newsweek that Swift shown listening to the book during her mega-tour documentary tripled the book’s daily sales across all formats.
Swift isn’t the only celebrity to love Moore’s book. Former President Barack Obama named it as among his favorite books and music of the summer in 2024. And now Netflix is going to turn the book into a movie.
“We love making TV and can’t wait to bring The God of the Woods to life with our partners at Sony and Netflix,” Moore and screenwriter/film producer Liz Hannah said in a joint statement. “We hope everyone falls in love (and hate) with these characters as much as we have.”
The book follows the disappearance of a teenage girl named Barbara Van Laar, who went missing from the family’s summer camp in 1975. Her vanishing brings up new questions about the disappearance of her brother 14 years earlier. The book dives into the secrets of the wealthy family and mystery surrounding the disappearance of the two kids.
Moore’s book seems to play into Swift’s “type” that she looks for in a book. She told Colbert that she tends to gravitate toward books with a “mysterious relationship” where someone isn’t exactly what they appear and you’re hearing whispers of “a murder that has happened in the past.”
“There’s the idea of a ghost or an actual ghost,” Swift said.
Moore also posted on Instagram that she woke up to an avalanche of messages after the End of an Era episode dropped. She also praised Saskia Maarleveld, who narrates the book. Maarleveld posted on Instagram that it was the “craziest thing to wake up to,” with regard to the news the book made it into the documentary.
“Taylor Swift listened to us,” she wrote in an Instagram story.
