To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

The real Salt Path: how the couple behind a bestseller le...

I read Raynor Winn's book The Salt Path and her other two books. I was looking forward to seeing the film at some point and to reading her next book. I felt sorry to read about the challenges the couple had faced, especially with regard to losing their family home and with Moth's health. Now, having read the article in today's Observer, I feel a bit stunned and am not sure what to think.

Ex lawyer. Haven’t read the book, just saw the film. I thought the way they lost the house and how this happened because “Ray” forgot to file a letter vindicating them seemed to be a very odd and unrealistic scenario. And I also found the portrayal of the friend who houses them over winter peculiarly negative. They sound like Walter Mitty types (that’s being kind).

I also wonder about them taking the loan out to pay off the embezzlement and making Martin Hemming (the employer she stole from) sign a non didclosure agreement just to guarantee he got his money back.

I suppose it's legal, but it's very dodgy practice from her.

Also there's a big difference between the £64,000 and the £100,000... what did she do with the remaining £36,000???

I wonder what the ' Fan' who let them stay on their farm out of pity is now thinking.. I assume now though that the Walkers have their own place ...

I’m starting to wonder if the children even exist, either!

Well not exactly - more that the claim in the book that they did so prompted the copycat behaviour. Because if you know that small area well, even as a tourist rather than a local, it's easy to know what campsite it was.

Part of me is wondering whether Penguin didn't actually want to delve too deeply into it all before publishing. They must have known that the book would really be tapping into a large segment of the British psyche. Struggle against adversity - check. Naive good people being shafted by those in power - check. Beautiful scenery - check. Good living and good karma proving accepted medical wisdom wrong - check. The raw power and beauty of Nature and a rejected of the urban rat race and trap - check. And eventual triumph and security - check. It's exactly the kind of thing the great British public laps up.

I think their story should always been taken with a punch of salt. It didn't ring true and was like a Hollywood story about people battling adversity through no fault of their own along with a miraculous recovery from an illness that debilitates people within a few years .
I think the Observer article is the truth

It absolutely is so toxic. Selling false hope is despicable, but hugely profitable.

As others have said, she's incredibly shifty. This video (sorry if it's been shared already) from a month ago comes across as a crock of shit when the buzzword around the film was 'Authentic'

I almost went to see it, but never got round to it. Pleased I didn't now. Deceiving people is never good and the Internet is full of people massively fucked off by these two today.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=3apcCtokerg

Had an aversion to it from the start, but couldn’t put my finger on why.

Seems like they have now been revealed as a couple of narcissistic scammers who profit from other people’s misery.

As a lawyer do you think they could be in legal hot water at all? Or is it just supremely embarrassing?

This X post by the observer which includes the video and the statement in response from Sally and Tim is currently getting over 1,000 views a minute and has 106k views.

Excellent!

That’s exactly right. It presses so many buttons. And I say that as someone who loved the book and had no suspicion of any of it being fake.

I have a group of friends and we share books now and again , but I wouldn't call us a book group .
Just shared the post , and two of them still say how good an author she is and how much they enjoyed the story & and those that saw the film , great scenery etc .
missed the point entirely 😕

What a weird, breathless delivery she has

Did they read any of the three articles?

Some people just want to believe.

I was just about to say similar.

You could pass it off as someone who is uncomfortable with the attention. Now we know the truth it is no wonder she is behaving that way.

Crooks!

"Its almost hard to believe..."
It is, isnt it Sally 😅

This interview says they have a daughter called Rowan. Funnily enough, there is a Rowan Walker who used to work for the Observer - presumably a coincidence.

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/countryside/a64976957/raynor-winn-the-salt-path-interview/

From Country Living interview...

Sally/Raynor:

a stranger contacted me on Twitter with an incredible gesture, I wasn’t sure how to respond. He owned a disused farm, nestled in the Cornish hills, and asked if Moth and I would like to live there.
We agonised for months over the decision. It was yet another risk, to give up our home and to trust a stranger, but we decided to do it.

And was it worth the risk?
Yes ­ – absolutely. When we arrived, the land felt abused and polluted, but we’ve been hard at work removing plastic sheeting, nourishing the soil and bringing wildlife back to the hedgerows. It’s become a big rewilding project – and it’s worked.

Isn't she such a saint for trusting a stranger who's giving them a house,

And then such a sweetie for dissing him in print over the state of the land

And then she's a saint again for restoring nature and tending to the poor and weak and helpless

/sarc

Its noticeable in that video how she has quite a rushed, gushing pace when she talks and then very clearly slows when she talks about Moths mobility

My daughter bought me 'Landlines' for Christmas a couple of years ago, as she'd read that the author had an interesting story, and it's a favourite genre of mine.
I did read it, (their journey from the north of Scotland down through Britain), but I couldn't quite take to it. She pushed and pushed her husband - quite cruelly sometimes - and it seemed a bit 'off' that by the end, he was much better.
I wonder now how much it was 'embroidered'. I passed it on to DH as he likes these sort of books, but he can't get enthused about starting yet! Perhaps he never will now.

There's a journalist on Insta hd_clifton who worked on this story. I can't work out how to link. Sorry.

She says there's more to come this week.

Yeah it's the same as the people who insist on believing Jack Monroe's faux poverty nonsense.

I was a single mum with her toddler at the same time as Jack Monroe, none of what she was saying ever rang true

Is that the place another poster said she mentioned where the locks had been glued and SCUM scrawled somewhere?

If so, we know why now!