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 wonder if they didn't expect to get away with it for so long, or didn't expect the book to do so well, so no one would ever make a connection between Raynor Winn and Sally Hawkins. Then it just went crazy and they thought since so long had passed they'd never get found outm

After all, the man at the garage who they owe money to had no idea it was her even when the film came out in the town.

This really makes me sad. I loved the book because I love walking in that area. I tend to assume people are being truthful and it just didn’t occur to me that they were scammers 😔

I dont think so, like i said in my post on the previous page, I get the sense that Sally was very au fait with the publishing world and had been trying for a long time to get something published

Publishers don't have to do due diligence when it comes to memoirs and life writing.

There have to be fact checkers for non-fiction work in general to ensure accuracy of facts and data, but people telling their life stories are exempt from this because it's about their life, their memories, etc - and it's very difficult to fact check a subjective version of events.

Penguin therefore wouldn't be liable for anything here.

However, if she's sold this story to Penguin as being truth when it's actually largely fiction, this hugely damages its saleability and doesn't look good for Penguin. It being a 'true' story is what makes it compelling and is what has made it fly off the shelves. A brand has been created around her and the book based on it being a true story of survival against the odds, two ordinary people against the machine of capitalism, etc. Once it no longer fits that narrative, it's not going to be worth the paper it's printed on.

If the article turns out to be true - and we do have to remember that there are two sides to every story, some of the people on the opposing side are now dead, the article itself is quite vague and people's names are withheld so they can't be fact checked, and we don't have access to Moth's medical history - I would imagine Penguin would have to halt the publication of any new editions due to it no longer being the genre it claims to be.

I have to say I am a bit sceptical because it's been ten years since the first book was published, and surely if there were this much bullshit in the book, someone would have been paid a handsome sum by the Daily Mail for an exposé ages ago. Why have all these people stayed silent for so long?

I will watch with interest over the coming days to see if this gets picked up by any other news outlets and any more people from their past come out of the woodwork.

I'd read some of the threads about the film irrespective of this article tbh. Totally put me off going to see it.

I imagine they and penguin will try and ride this out and hope no other media picks up the story

if it heats up there’ll be some sob story and the illness will have been a misdiagnosis and they felt too ashamed to say because so many people believed in them

ultimately these are not people who want to work- and they’re not going to get decent references from former employers!! They lived in a small community and ripped people off - they were always going to be caught out but seem like they were too arrogant to believe it

her writing is not good enough for fiction so they needed the scam. Would love to know if they did any of the walk or just popped up in places for book research

You'd think Penguin and the film company would have done some due diligence. There's a reason these implausible and far fetched stories sound implausible and far fetched 🤨

The couple also haven't been very bright either. They could easily have gone down the mental health route and said that skipping around Cornwall after losing their house improved their mental health and gave them a new perspective. There are proven health benefits to walking so it would have been far more believable and less likely to attract scrutiny. To claim walking cured a terminal neurological condition is bonkers and outright cruel to the poor people and families who actually experience that condition. It must've given false hope to some of them.

It amazes me that these people don't seem to ever think they'll be caught out.

These people seem to be spreading medical misinformation that could have as much harm as anti-vaxxers

Their book should be reclassified as fiction. Inspired by some real life events, etc.

I had some doubts when reading the two books. It just didn’t seem to add up n parts. Reminded me a little of how I felt reading A million tiny pieces. Maybe I just spent too long as a social worker!

I haven't read the book, but what a horrible pair. If they have been lying about Moth's illness, that is absolutely vile.

Publishers will probably apologise and continue to sell the book. £££ rules. I feel sorry for the film actors.

They have a whole schedule of events coming up over the summer I presume these will be cancelled. And her instagram page now has comments switched off…

That journalist has done a great job. Even finding the house in France and talking to locals there. THEN the slam dunk of the illness very very likely to be false. Well done

What a pair of fraudsters.

As I was reading the article (having read the book ages ago) I thought how is he still so healthy wonder if that was a grift too……..

My theory is, cynically, that Martin (person she stole from) died in 2012, and James (relative who lent money) died in 2016.
The book was published in 2018.
She possibly held off on submitting it until she felt it would be "safe" in terms of people around to kick off.

My Mum said 'it went on a bit' & was 'boring' & she can find something good in watching paint dry!!

I assumed the people had come forward now as the story was getting a lot more publicity as a film?
It's very possible as a book (using different names ) no one put two and two together.

I remember the couple giving interview on one of the early morning shows .I remembering thinking, this is interesting regarding their “walks” and their circumstances to lose everything and have a degenerate illness and have no money or home and thinking, but if he had a life limiting condition then surely they would of been entitled to benefits and local authority would of provided housing?

Over the years I’ve been meaning to read the book and some how never got round to it, which is very unusual for me, as I am an avid reader and half the time will have two books on the go.
So now I’m pleased I haven’t read the book or got caught up in the ‘hype’ , perhaps my initial thoughts stayed with me, regarding the interview I saw all those years ago. So thank you for this posting @DisappointedReader .

I couldn’t stand the book. It is no surprise they are not what they made themselves out to be.

Wow. What horrid people

I read the book and hated it. I couldn’t get past the fact that if you have a terminally ill husband your best response is to drag him off to wild camp.

It felt like it was all about her.

If an article like that which makes accusations of theft, embezzlement etc has been published by The Observer, it will have had their lawyers crawling all over it to make sure every line is watertight.

i wonder how the Walkers will respond? And what about Penguin?

Isaac and Gillian Anderson will be royally pissed off: they’ll not want to be associated with thieves and liars, and now they are, permanently. And think of all the guff Gillian Anderson was coming out with about Sally Walker on the publicity tour! Anderson will be fuming!

That sounds like a good idea!!

@Gallivanterer this is true.

And if you're not especially literary, you might not have come across the book and the hype around it.

I suppose we are also talking about people who are mostly elderly and live quite rurally without connections to anyone who might help them tell their story. It's interesting that the wife of the so called 'conman' said she had been waiting for a phone call - perhaps she felt she wouldn't be believed if she went to the press herself.

I do think The Observer wouldn't publish something without being absolutely sure.

I'm just surprised it's not been picked up elsewhere yet!

I would imagine Penguin will not honour the deal on the next book that the article mentions.

You'd think Penguin would care after Belle Gibson was discredited and Penguin Australia were fined:
https://share.google/0QHOhhOBUZqW5uUKV

Petty as it is, I have just requested a refund from Amazon customer services because they are mis-selling and mis-advertising The Salt Path. And asked them to escalate it with the publishers.