The Salt Path and even more so, Wild Silence the second book gave me so much strength going through my divorce during lockdown. A triumph over adversity story. I purchased it on audible and listened to it many times; each rendition gave me strength.
Hearing the revelations about the Salt Path and its author Raynor Winn, is obviously so disappointing. Nothing has been proven yet of course and it’s very easy to jump on a critical/eviscerating bandwagon, but we don’t know exactly what went on yet; these are ‘claims’. The police interviewed her and didn’t take it further it seems.
However, Winn has admitted to making ‘mistakes’ in her previous employment and I think there was an NDA around sorting this out. She maintains there was a poor investment in a friend’s business, so we’ll see.
I don’t have a problem with the name change thing because plenty of authors write under a pseudonym and it’s not evidence of any wrong-doing. The CBD /Moth illness thing was addressed by Winn yesterday. He does seem to have a medical condition. I think it was a diagnosis of CBD originally, but now not so much, the letter released seems to imply it’s cardiovascular in nature. Finally, the house in France is a ruin; it’s a four walls falling down with rubble and growth on the inside. There is no running water nor electricity. The journalist admitted this. The land is not worth anything and how would the Winn’s have got to France from UK at the time, and to what end?
All in all it seems the reason for losing their home is possibly shady. Moth does have a condition. They did walk 638 miles and were penniless. The house in France is a red-herring.
I spoke with family about this story. It was pointed out that it’s STILL a very good story and why can’t that stand on its own merit, as semi autobiographical? However, I am personally sad at the revelations, it does completely change how I feel about the book.
Winn isn’t the first and won’t be the last to write semi autobiographical fiction under a different premise, without transparency. I hope she has paid her dues and made amends to her employer, if that’s what happened. I do feel though that the reaction in the media is an overreaction.
Lastly, I saw another article claiming people were ‘demanding back the price of the Salt Path’. Really? I dislike the way the couple are being ripped-apart in the media because in this country it’s ‘innocent until proven guilty’ but you’d never know this reading the articles. As long as there has been financial recompense made (if that’s what’s required) and apologies made, then the outstanding thing for me is that the public were hoodwinked. I don’t choose to take this personally however. I do think the work stands on its own merit, albeit with an entirely different premise.
Moving forwards, I wonder how many times I will listen to the Salt Path now? Honesty is a very important trait for me. My divorce was based lies and the last 10 years of my marriage was a mess of misdirection and gaslighting. I guess that’s what has happened here potentially; we’ve been mislead by The Salt Path and it isn’t a nice feeling at all. That’s where the disappointment lies for me. Nevertheless, personally I am going to give this time to play out before coming to conclusions about the book and its author.