Annie is nine months pregnant. She’s shopping for a crib at IKEA. That’s when the massive earthquake hits. There’s nothing to do but walk.
This book deals heavily with pregnancy. Other content warnings include natural disaster, death, child death.
Set over the course of one day, a heart-racing debut about a woman facing the unimaginable, determined to find safety.
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.
A propulsive debut, Tilt is a primal scream of a novel about the disappointments and desires we all carry, and what each of us will do for the people we love.
Don't just take our word for it...
“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) 🌟
“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 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
Taste the very first page
LATE MORNING
IKEA, NE Portland
So here we are, thirty-seven weeks pregnant, at IKEA.
Picture me, Bean, if you can picture anything inside of there. My belly distended, a blimp exiting sideways out of my body. I walk in stiff little jerky motions like a stork. Grip on to stair railings. Every few minutes, I have to press my hands against my lower back to stop my spine from breaking in half.
I look so disturbing that I make the other shoppers nervous; they watch me from the corner of their eyes to see what I’ll do next. They stop me to say things like, Bet you’re ready for this to be over, or You look like you’re about to pop!
And IKEA. On a weekday. Dear god. Another reminder that I’m officially unimportant. Only the old people and college students and bartenders shop for furniture on a Monday. And of course the other pregnant ladies. Milling in the crib section like hungry alligators.
I’m wearing a lavender linen romper and Birkenstocks. The kind of thing I would see pregnant women on Instagram wearing and think, Over my dead body. The kind of outfit that takes the EDGE off, that says, I am no longer into fucking, I am now a mother. Please speak to me only in high pitches. But it turns out, Bean, that maternity clothes cost just as much as real clothes. And we still haven’t paid off the bill the clinic sent…
You might also like
A Half-Baked Murder
Combining French luxury and THC, Baked by Chloe will take pot brownies to another level. That is, until a creepy past acquaintance rehashes old drama and shockingly turns up dead—landing Aunt Dawn as the number one murder suspect.
Liar, Dreamer, Thief
A young woman’s carefully constructed fantasy world implodes in this brilliantly conceived novel that blurs distinctions between right and wrong, comedy and tragedy, imagination and reality.
The Dream Builders
Written from the perspectives of ten different characters, Oindrila Mukherjee’s incisive debut novel explores class divisions, gender roles, and stories of survival within a society that is constantly changing and becoming increasingly Americanized
The Sweet Spot
In the heart of Greenwich Village, three women form an accidental sorority when a baby—belonging to exactly none of them—lands on their collective doorstep.
The New Life
A brilliant and captivating debut, in the tradition of Alan Hollinghurst and Colm Tóibín, about two marriages, two forbidden love affairs, and the passionate search for social and sexual freedom in late 19th-century London.
Desert Creatures
In a world that has become treacherous and desiccated, Magdala has always had to fight to survive. At nine years old, she and her father, Xavier, are exiled from their home, fleeing through the Sonoran Desert, searching for refuge.
All the Dark Places
A savage murder rocks a quiet Massachusetts suburb, revealing the dark secrets at the center of a group of friends in this stylish debut thriller for fans of Megan Miranda and Shari Lapena.
Twice in a Lifetime
The Time Traveler’s Wife meets Oona Out of Order in this imaginative and moving debut novel of a love more powerful than time.
None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive
Perfect for fans of Maria Semple and Jennifer Weiner, this smart and witty debut novel follows Ramona through the forty-eight hours after her life has been upended by the discovery of her husband’s affair and an approaching Category Four hurricane.
Aesthetica
In a debut novel as radiant as it is caustic, a former influencer confronts her past—and takes inventory of the damages that underpin the surface-glamour of social media.
Meredith, Alone
Will have you laughing and crying as Meredith, after spending three years inside her house, figures out how to rejoin the world one step at a time.
Factory Girls
A funny, fierce, and unforgettable read about a young woman working a summer job in a shirt factory in Northern Ireland, while tensions rise both inside and outside the factory walls.
The Socialite’s Guide to Murder
The hotel was her refuge, but scandal is afoot—and a killer stalks the halls in this charming series debut perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Ashley Weaver.
Closer to Okay
Weaving culinary delights with an honest, appraising look at how we deal with the world when it becomes too much, Closer to Okay is the comfort food we all need in these, well, crazy times.
The Other Side of Night
The lives of a disgraced police officer, a prolific author, and an upstanding citizen are inextricably bound together by a series of mysterious deaths.
Singer Distance
The odds of the planet next door hosting intelligent life are—that’s not luck. That’s a miracle. It means something.
The Marsh Queen
Loni must decide whether to delve beneath the surface into murky half-truths and either avenge the past or bury it, once and for all.