Tilt: A Novel

by Emma Pattee Narrated by Ariel Blake

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

What would you do if the world started crumbling around you? Emma Pattee explores humanity, desperation, love and survival in this breathtaking read.

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A USA TODAY Bestseller
A Best Book of 2025 for Vogue
Named by Time one of the “14 Best Books of 2025 So Far”
An NPR favorite fiction read of 2025

Set over the course of a single day, an electrifying debut novel from “a powerful new literary voice” (Vogue) following one woman's journey across a transformed city, carrying the weight of her past and a fervent hope for the future.

“Utterly gripping.” -NPR, All Things Considered

Last night, you and I were safe. Last night, in another universe, your father and I stood fighting in the kitchen.

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, there's nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. If she can just make it home, she's determined to change her life.

“Shocking and full of heart” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Tilt is a “moving adrenaline rush” (The New York Times Book Review) and “epic odyssey” (NPR) about the disappointments and desires we all carry, and what each of us will do for the people we love.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Tilt heralds the arrival of a powerful new literary voice." —Vogue, Best Books of 2025

“Recounting Annie’s precarious journey across the city and into her past, Pattee reveals that the quake has upended more than the earth. A captivating novel.” —Kirkus (starred review)

“[A] fascinating and emotional debut... compelling... Instantly readable and filled with dry humor, this book follows in the footsteps of other disaster novels while bringing a fresh take to the genre.” —Booklist (starred)

“[A] nail-biting debut... Pattee’s depiction of a post-earthquake Portland feels bracingly realistic, and her depictions of marriage and impending motherhood are achingly raw. Shocking and full of heart, this leaves a mark.” —Publisher's Weekly (starred)

“The storytelling in Tilt is brisk [and] as funny as a novel about humanity at its worst can be... Pattee’s ambivalence about human goodness is a powerful thing; it calls into question the assumptions we make about ourselves.” —Washington Post

“Tilt promises wit and style, and reminders of humanity in the face of disaster. A force to be reckoned with.” —Literary Hub, LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025

" Author Emma Pattee delivers a groundbreaking (heh) hybrid of survival adventure and character portrait." —Goodreads, Meet the Hottest Debut Novels of 2025

"The premise of Tilt is out of a nightmare; the characters, out of your everyday life. Tilt imagines what might happen should the next Cascadia Fault earthquake occur and wreak havoc on the Pacific Northwest. It’s a big concept, but only follows a day in one pregnant woman’s life who is caught away from home, leading to a riveting and relatable survival tale. You will be biting your nails and Googling at the same time." —Today.com, 50 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2025

“Every gorgeous page pulses with humor, heartbreak, and the horror of human behavior when the unthinkable happens. Emma Pattee has written a smashing debut that had me turning the pages well into the night.” —Jessica Knoll, New York Times Bestselling author of Bright Young Women

"Tilt is a remarkable debut—a gorgeous, haunting blend of a suspenseful survival thriller and a fierce portrait of maternal love. I was so mesmerized that I blew off all my responsibilities, threw all other reading aside, and blistered through the whole thing in one sitting, loving every moment." —Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Happiness Falls and Miracle Creek

"Tilt is a swift, exhilarating punch to the gut, the most embodied twenty-four hours of narrative I can remember reading. Through the eyes of the prickly, funny, and very pregnant narrator, we viscerally experience the surreal, unbearable, comic, and beautiful ways that humans behave in a crisis. The Road meets Nightbitch meets What to Expect When You're Expecting. I loved this novel." —Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State and Mobility

"An epic natural disaster adventure story starring a pregnant woman on a mission. A nuanced, stark, tender portrait of a marriage. A tale of destruction and loss punctuated by surprising moments of empathy. Emma Pattee’s debut novel Tilt manages to be all of the above, and more. Equal parts heart-wrenching and life-affirming, this riveting book made me laugh, cry, and think. I couldn’t put it down." —Helen Phillips, author of Hum and The Need

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2025-03-08
On the cusp of motherhood, a woman faces peril.

Annie is 37 weeks pregnant, shopping for a crib at IKEA, when suddenly she feels a terrible jolt, “a wave underneath me,” she thinks, “lifting me up.” An earthquake has hit Portland. In her assured debut novel, Pattee follows Annie through a horrific day: With wreckage all around her, she is intent on making her way to find her husband. She has miles to walk, it’s hot, she’s hungry and thirsty and afraid. She’s alone, and yet not alone, because she’s carrying a child, her precious Bean. “How did we get here, Bean?,” she asks. “You and me, IKEA, Monday morning, AISLE 8, BIN 31, hand on metal rack, eyes wide in fear, body tensed like a firecracker about to explode?” As she trudges across devastating landscapes—collapsed houses, bridges, and schools; supermarkets and convenience stores overrun by looters; bodies of the wounded and dead—Annie answers that question by beginning 17 years earlier, when she fell in love with Bean’s father, Dom, and they set out together to fulfill their dreams of becoming stars: she, a playwright; he, an actor. But Annie gave up writing, and Dom, while tirelessly auditioning, works at a cafe. Annie worries, as she walks, about their lack of money “to have a baby, much less feed a baby, much less house a baby, much less pay somebody to watch said baby.” She worries that they’ll never be able to afford a home of their own, with real estate prices ballooning. She worries about her ability for mothering, for being a “lifelong cheerleader” for her husband, and about realizing their dashed dreams. Recounting Annie’s precarious journey across the city and into her past, Pattee reveals that the quake has upended more than the earth.

A captivating novel.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940191956015
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	03/25/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

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