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.

They put a lot of faith in the NDA that the employer signed!

Echoes of Apple Cider Vinegar.

Anyone who uses their medical issues for financial gain/support should be required to provide evidence.

I read and enjoyed the book at the time it came out. I always assumed there was much more to the story of them losing their house. The article notes there was a £230k mortgage outstanding as well as the £100k. The property can't have been worth more than that, so having lived there many years they didn't seem to have built up much, if any, equity. I suspected reading the book that their financial naivety ran much deeper than one ,'unwise investment'. One question though, is it possible to 'drop charges' once the police are involved and investigating? Isn't the decision to prosecute taken when the police establish the facts and CPS review? How does 'dropping the charges' work in practice? Wouldn't it be illegal to pay off a witness to stop a case proceeding? And wouldn't Ray's / Sally's failure to report to the police station for interview as outlined in the article be a separate offense? I'm not doubting the veracity of the article, I'm sure it's been fact checked and had legal oversight, just curious about how these things work.
At the time I read the book, the thing I took issue with was them identifying as 'homeless'. Street homeless people tend to have had chaotic lives, dependency on drugs or alcohol, past trauma, mental illness etc etc. The causes are complex and hence notoriously difficult to solve. Ray and Moth from my memory of the book had the offer of accomodation from the council (albeit less than ideal). It was their choice to walk instead. I always found it jarring that they identified with the homeless people they encountered when their circumstances were entirely different and they faced none of the deep rooted obstacles homeless people face. They settled reasonably easily back into settled life once they had the opportunity.
I have been poor in my earlier life and I did identify somewhat with Ray's bitterness and the desperation that might drive you to spend a night in a campsite without paying for example. I'm not saying it's right, just that poverty can drive behaviour we're not proud of and I understood the tone of the book towards the well heeled tourists etc.
I too looked them up a few times in the intervening years and expected to find that Moth was severely disabled or had passed away. People do have rare forms of illness, Stephen Hawking for example lived for a long time with a rare form of MND which usually kills people within 2 years. I do take exception that walking or exercise will cure any degenerative illness. That's complete bullshit. I had assumed he was misdiagnosed or had a less debilitating form of the illness. I'm not in any way defending them if they have misrepresented the illness, just saying perhaps we don't know the full picture.
I have always been expecting somehow to see an exposé on this. There just seemed to be much more to it, the financial stuff and the illness in particular. I wonder why it took so long.

The folk on social media saying "I knew it!", reminds me of threads on Websleuths, where after pages of speculation about numerous suspects somebody is charged, then everyone claims to have known he was a wrong 'un from the start. No-one could have known, until this additional context came to light. The book resonated with millions of people, with word of mouth sales and subsequent film adaptation. I found it well-written and engaging and if some details were glossed over, I just assumed that was for legal reasons.

I don't understand why the author didn't think things would eventually catch up with them, as the book then film's success threw an ever brighter spotlight on them. Unpopular opinion - but I hope she is OK and can survive this, as I still think she's a good writer. She'd need to make amends of course - but it sounds like the debts were paid off once the house was repossessed. The only readers she may have harmed are those with CBD, if Moth's diagnosis was misrepresented. Otherwise, the venom and glee about her "grifting" and downfall seems disproportionate. Two articles and a video in today's Observer?

Well, the Observer article answers a lot of questions I had after reading the book. It’s an easy read, but I’m not interested in reading the sequels. I dragged DH along with me to see the film. He declared it “so dull” afterwards. The real story would make a much better film IMO.

In the article one person hasn't seen the money the couple owes them? And the new owner of the farmhouse has received numerous demands, so no I don't think they paid off their debts.

The only readers she may have harmed are those with CBD, if Moth's diagnosis was misrepresented

This isn't true, I'm afraid, many many more will have been harmed. As others have pointed out, the toxic, mythological narrative that people with chronic & severe or incurable illnesses can "wellness" themselves better, that they can achieve health again through mindset changes is rife and very dangerous.

A poster here said they have fibromyalgia and cfs - both diseases have been hugely misrepresented in the media & medical communities.

Some patients will have found hope from The Salt Path, others will have pushed themselves into worse disability because they were inspired by the book.

It's cruel and harm is incalculable

Better to be like that than easily duped.

Looking forward to the Netflix documentary about the grift.

It's called factoring the debt and it is legal and not uncommon. Far more plausible than their original account of how they lost their house!

What more could there be 🙈

Awful people. I'm very surprised that it took so long for this to come out. I read the first few pages of the book and thought the story of them losing their house was obviously BS

The debt secured against the house (£230k mortgage) and the £100k loan + interest which was sold to the factors who them got an order for sale would have been paid off (or mainly so) from the house proceeds.

However, it sounds like there was other unsecured debt though - utility bills, speeding fines, taxes for their French property which haven't ever been paid. Apparently they still owe the local garage £800 for work to their car! No wonder they changed their names!

other stuff from their past, maybe, when they were still Sally and Tim Walker? Evidence about their children? Evidence about whether they did any of the walks in her books? Evidence about his disease or lack of it? Even evidence that she has written books before under a different name - or perhaps that someone else helped her write the books? The Salt Path is very skilfully written for a first time author.

I’d really like to know if her publishers did any checking of this previously unpublished writer. Surely googling Raynor Winn and finding no internet footprint at all would have raised suspicions.

I think that poster was referring to the original £100k debt to the London relative, which was sold on, and pursued by those who bought it, which was what resulted in their house being repossessed, and clearly sold, if there’s a new owner-occupier living there now. So that debt will have been cleared when that court case handed the debt collectors the house to sell. (No idea what would have happened with the outstanding mortgage.)

But no, clearly council tax, tv licence stuff etc, plus residence tax stuff at the French property have gone unpaid, as well as the £800 to the garage in Pwllheli.

You don’t understand how journalism works.
Months of research will have gone into this with lots of fact checking and cross referencing.
it’s difficult to prove because the key protagonists changed their names & an NDA was involved.
Do you think you’d have believed it more if the Mail had run it rather than a reputable broadsheet?
you know it was the Washington Post that broke Watergate?

It seems the PSP association have already severed links to Moth. Every link you find to the Salt Pat and Moth when you google now goes back to the PSP Association home page and there are no traces of the ‘Winns’ on the website. Example of broken link below.
https://www.pspassociation.org.uk/information-and-support/living-with-psp-cbd/personal-experiences/raynor-and-moths-story/

edited to fix link

Indeed. Michael Sheen did a programme about how this works quite recently.

Jack. Monroe and Prince Harry are on their books. I don’t think they have high editorial standards.

I think that poster was referring to the original £100k debt

Maybe, but they said debts which would have included all the stuff the five county court judgements were for, and anything else.

I wasn't suggesting it wasn't plausible over the original account I was thinking that how convenient for the relative who's business went down literally months later. And I had to look up factoring the debt as I havent personally come across this term and when I looked it up it mentions a business selling an unpaid invoice.. hence my point.. there must have been some connection to the business .

My bookgroup were exactly the same. Some of us felt they didn't seem right but loved the actual walking adventure part.

Quite enjoyed the film, but arrived late and missed the first ten minutes - and did find the couple portrayed quite irritating.
I mentioned the film to a friend who lives in the area - she was quite disparaging about the subsequent books and exploits, so I wasn't overly surprised when I read he article this morning.

It seems the PSP association have already severed links to Moth.

I guess The Observer gave them the heads up.

How can we be sure she even wrote the book (s) herself?