Imagine this: You’re nine months pregnant, shopping for a crib at IKEA, when suddenly—a massive earthquake hits. No phone. No keys. No way to reach your family. Just the immediate reality of survival.

That’s the premise of Tilt, a gripping new novel that forces us to ask: How does financial precarity shape our survival? What happens when class determines who makes it out—and who doesn’t?

Today, I’m talking to award-winning journalist and climate crisis storyteller Emma Pattee, whose novel Tilt is as much about disaster as it is about money, resilience, and the choices we make when everything changes in an instant.

We’re unpacking the financial fears that show up in moments of crisis, why money is a survival tool, and the hidden ways class shapes disaster response. Plus, Emma shares her own experiences with money and motherhood—things she wishes she had known before having kids.