mysql table - text column - has this content

lorem ipsum
lorem ipsum

I fetch this content as php story variable - and need now to create a javascript variable

var story = "<?php echo $story; ?>";

console says:
Uncaught SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token

if I change table content to lorem ipsum lorem ipsum - it works fine

so obvioysly the problem is with mysql new line characters

I tried - $story = str_replace(PHP_EOL, "\n", $story); - before echoing in javascript - but the same result

how to solve this ?