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.

It's not a tiny circle of people.

Nature/travel/personal memoir is big business in the non fiction world.

Agree. They had a chance to refute the points made in the observer article and instead just came out some pseudo spiritual waffle.

No but apparently the book does. His DAT scan after his walk showing normal. This makes zero sense. I find this outrageous if people pretend to be ill and at least the article is heavily suggesting that this is pretend.

Indeed. They had an opportunity to be OUTRAGED at the heinous accusations

😂😂😂

And they weren't.

Sorry, misunderstood, I thought you were saying the article suggested he had a miraculous recovery, when you meant the book.

Yes but also because people question how this complied with the Gambling Act. Which was the first thing I wondered reading the Observer article.

Yeah, if a newspaper article was going to printed at me saying I had made up my serious neurological condition I would be applying for an injunction faster than you can say "dodgy grifters"

I cannot for the life of me with stuff like this fathom HOW does he (or anyone) think he'll get away with it? Does he actually believe his lie because he's said it so often or just think people are stupid and gullible?

It'd be like me claiming I only have one leg, even though I very obviously don't, sticking religiously to that claim and expecting everyone to accept it.

I would’ve thought it would’ve been okay, because don’t the company Omaze do a similar thing, where people buy raffle tickets to be in with a chance of winning a house? I’ve entered one of their raffles before.

So, does anyone think we'll be getting Waynore Lose and hubby Timo in a few years pitching to Channel 4.

Deep in the French countryside, a homeless couple renovate a French mansion they stumbled upon when foraging for berries after walking from Cornwall to Nice to cure Timo's life threatening illness.

Maybe all that spiritual zen bollocks they developed on their "journey" means that they don't feel negative emotions like outrage and anger.

I didn't realise she had written two sequels with Moth miraculously.being ill at the beginning, walking miles again and right as rain by the end! That should have raised suspicions. One long walk could have swallowed, but not three.

It'd be like me claiming I only have one leg, even though I very obviously don't, sticking religiously to that claim and expecting everyone to accept it.

It grew back! It's a miracle!

Don't know. But at least someone WINS the Omaze houses. No-one seemed to win the Walker's house. And the lied (again) by saying it was free of mortgage or debt when it was neither.

ETA- their default seems to be huckstering really.

Coming soon to a bookshop and cinema near you...

A bit of an aside, but was anyone else really shocked that the actor playing Moth in the film was Lucius Malfoy? I would never have recognised him!

Another thing I’ve not seen mentioned, I found it unbelievable that a couple, one of which has a terminal illness, received nothing but £48 a week in tax credits. The only reason they’d get such a low amount is if they had other income. Why wouldn’t they claim disability benefits rather than attempting to live on half a pack of instant noodles per day?

Well, misleading certainly

I suppose the first book could have been put down to slow progression, but by the time they got to the film so many years later, somebody should have been asking questions - but maybe everyone thinks that’s somebody else’s job?

Maybe at a certain point so much money has been invested that no individual feels able to ask questions?

The DM have an article ready to go which shows up when you google Raynor Winn. But when you click on it, it takes you to a different article. Perhaps the DM lawyers are still poring over whether it can be published as is.

He’s very good in the film - as is Gillian Anderson. The film is worth watching for them alone. He’s also really good in the latest season of The White Lotus.

The you tube link quoted up thread seemed to be a house matching a photo I saw on the lottery web page and also had a rental attached which I think someone said was their only income.

Someone asked why they weren’t working prior to losing their home. But if you have defrauded your previous employer you can’t supply a reference so it would be difficult for her to find work. And benefits won’t pay your mortgage. Presumably that’s why the house was for sale and appeared on Escape to the Country.

The article doesn't accused her of making up their walk, homelessness, or Moth's illness. It reveals their original names and says she was guilty of theft, and that there was more to the repossession of their home than she'd said.

So, there's nothing to refute. Obviously the vagueness of the events that led to their homelessness raise questions as to the veracity of the rest of the book, but that's it.

It wouldn't matter if they said it was described as a fictionalised account of a trip, but they sold it as being factual. So it does matter.
An autobiography is someone's account of their life I would expect it to be their interpretation of events and so of course biased but I wouldn't expect someone to make things up or alter facts.

Plus there was a walk of the Thames path last year and just last month Penguin announced they were buying a book on the Coast to Coast walk. This really is the grift that keeps on grifting!
https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/penguin-michael-joseph-buys-raynor-winns-book-on-coast-to-coast-walk