A highly original and irresistible debut that begins with swimming salmon and ends with the starry sky, celebrating the universe in all its wondrous glory

* This book is a thing of wonder. Amy Leach has found delight in the details of the world, and taken exuberant pleasure in putting that delight into the most unexpected words. Each paragraph carries phrases to underline and read aloud; each page offers another way of seeing the world anew. A sheer delight -- Jon McGregor * Lyrical and strange, this engaging book is filled with short tales whose most perfect sentences stay with you, especially in your dreams Huffington Post * The living world has a new and sprightly champion. Leach is ecstatic in her knowledgeable, resplendent, and exhilarating contemplations of everything from subatomic particles to dust, Spinoza, donkeys, and caterpillars Booklist * Like a descendant of Lewis Carroll and Emily Dickinson, Amy Leach brings new meaning to the world without us, and within. A reader entering this book to learn more about the universe will exit knowing much more about her own self. At once large and intimate, [Things That Are] introduces one of the most exciting and original writers in America -- Yiyun Li, Author Of Gold Boy, Emerald Girl And The Vagrants * Of all the wondrous things that are catalogued in this brave little book, the most wondrously fresh and novel may be the uncanny Ms. Leach's own gamin-sly, rhythm-rhymey voice, and oh that flint-flighty, rapt-capacious mind of hers. Besides which, no one conjures a presenter present tense than she. Sheer scrambling delight -- Lawrence Weschler, Author Of Mr Wilson's Cabinet Of Wonder * Things That Are is a joy. Every sentence is a surprise, bursting open like little pop-rocks -- Brian Eno * award winning US writer Leach aims to rekindle our communion with the world in this bijou of a debut... her voice and vision are utterly enchanting -- Caroline Sanderson Non-Fiction Book of the Month, The Bookseller

Amy Leach grew up in Texas. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Iowa, and her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and reviews. She has been recognised with the Whiting Writers' Award and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award. She lives in Montana.