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.

I watched the observer video on X. Apparently she submitted fake invoices from bogus companies and they then got paid presumably into her own account. She also had cash takings she was supposed to deposit at the bank but the deposits were never made.

Yes especially when you look at the nature of the business - it's listed as "artistic creation" and "cultural education"

Search The Salt Path and you will find many threads and reviews over the years querying the background to the book and their attitude

Yikes. That's interesting though. The processes in the business I work for would sniff that out so that's reassuring. Have just googled bookkeeper fraud too - quite illuminating. Thanks.

I haven't read the book(s) but glad they are being found out and that the woman whose husband was wronged now has the truth out.

It's one thing being really shit with money and making poor financial decisions.

This stuff is another level.

Agree with all of this!

Look, it’s not like lawyer taking on a client! I’m trying to think what my agent knows about me after three novels — she knows me as a writer, but she knows very little about my past, for instance, as I write fiction. I don’t think the narrative of the Big Issue piece differs significantly from that in The Salt Path — they both always sounded vague and not very plausible on the court case , but that could easily be ascribed to someone not wanting a lawsuit brought against a book, so being vague about exactly what caused their homelessness.

So it’s not possible to say what RW’s agent knew/knows about her, but it would be vanishingly unlikely for an agent taking on a new client to question them about whether they have a criminal past (unless their memoir was about it).

This is the standard code of practice for literary agencies.

https://agentsassoc.co.uk/about/code-of-practice/

I remember Gillian Anderson saying that she found Raynor really guarded when she met her, which she thought was odd considering GA was going to be portraying her. This would explain it.

Thank god the CTMs family grift fell apart before they even got the film script written.

It's awful to think of all the people who have been hurt by this awful deceit
Her artwork was lovely

Have just followed Angela Harding on insta, her work is lovely

Raynor is also part of “Saltlines” a collaboration with folk band Gigspinner - she writes and recites the prose.
Touring throughout the summer- I wonder if this will be pulled?
Saw this in Wells. Music great but prose very much self indulgent clap trap in my humble opinion- relieved I didn’t spend money on a ticket for my husband- don’t think he would have lasted till the interval!😂

Jason Isaacs are also saying ‘Oh, fuck’ after they’ve been promoting the film with the Walkers.)

JI hardly ever plays anything other than villains so this is possibly more fitting for him 🤣.

But the holes jumped out of the story. Anyone with any sense would have spotted that. I didn't expect criminality but it was obvious something was very amiss.

Tickets are currently still for sale for the tour....

Also… what do people think of the mysterious author Izzy Wyn-Thomas, whose book published by the company run by Tim/Moth, and was integral to the attempt described in The Observer to raffle the Welsh property? Interesting that the book description on Amazon mentions how “Ellias and Baxter arrive in North Wales with a van full of children and dreams for their future. They aren’t expecting the investment that their future is based on to go so painfully wrong.” Sound familiar?!?

https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Dal-Dy-Dir/dp/0957303106

When Ronnie Wood left his wife Jo just as I finished his autobiography which was dedicated to her I threw it on a fire in my garden. Very satisfying it was too.

This is pure speculation but aren't they living in a "borrowed" house? There must be a fair amount of "spare" money from earnings related to the books/film. Be interesting to know where it was put and if it is easily accessible should they decide to drop out of view.

From X “This was an open secret in the narrative non-fiction world. I've known for six years. Everyone knew.”

I note Sally/Raynor is also due to speak at Latitude festival

Not read this thread, just the Observer article.

I found an archived version of the gangani publishing website where they were offering their home as a prize:

web.archive.org/web/20120628120623/www.ganganipublishing.co.uk/

I loved the music of Saltlines. Gigspanner are a fantastic band and the music was a wonderful evocation of the South West. I heard it very early on but haven't been to see it again as I found her very self indulgent. The musicians didn't stand in the way of the music but she stood in the way of the words.

That's exactly what a member of my book club said. She is an experienced long distance hiker and said those 3 very steep climbs with backpacks would take ages longer.

Good spot. After reading the book and thinking something was up with the whole thing, I also tried to do a bit of digging to find their real names but hit a dead end after finding one dead CH listing for Winn. (you can tell I’m not an investigative journalist! 😆) I did uncover an article from the US saying his real surname was Walker, so I should have thought to search Companies House for Walker plus birthdate of Raynor Winn.

I did wonder if someone at the publisher, agent or elsewhere tipped off the journalist to her real name? Their accounts department and editors will always have known it, for contracts and payments. However, as a pp said, there must have been the odd person who has met her under her real name and knows she’s also Raynor Winn of TSP —friends, relatives, people who know her kids (if they indeed exist!) and so on.

I’m amazed that it’s not come out earlier tbh, plus amazed that nobody at her agent/publisher/the film production company etc. ever thought to check her out on the details, or wonder if Moth’s illness was really as it seemed? Are they all completely credulous? It seemed fishy to me from the first chapter!

Also this forum
https://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=25803.0

The property even appeared on escape to the country!

I like how the website claimed they searched the countryside for the perfect property for the prize draw.

I guess that sounded better than "we are up to our necks in debt after years of criminality"