Thread 2. To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[AWanderingFool]

Thread Two for The Salt Path and Raynor Winn/Sally Walker/Sally Winn discussions.

Thread One is here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5368194-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Maybe I’m picking at holes and clutching at straws here, but the main thing i can think of is that she could just defend herself by saying ‘oh I never specifically mentioned CBD in the Big Issue interview’ and ‘oh we only ever suspected he had CBD, but behaved as if he actually did to give him a chance of living as long as possible’. No idea!

My father is dying of CBD.

I read the book but wasn't suspicious. Not least, my mother died from MND, and I assumed that Moth was sort of the equivalent to Stephen Hawking, in far outliving the usual prognosis.

I hoped the book and film would increase awareness leading to more money for research, and therefore bringing us closer to a cure.

I'm so disappointed in that couple.

🤣. The most underwhelming solving of a whodunit.

Oh my god no not yet!
I tried the literary approach to illness. You write a book, and literary 'become cured'.

The X thread now has 800k views. Oh and Raynor Winn has deleted her X account.
https://x.com/observeruk/status/1941738885106872782?s=61

There seems to be conflicting stories about why they were not in council accommodation. I have definitely seen an interview where Raynor/Sally said it was because Moth/Tim had more than a year to live and they weren't even offered temporary accommodation but other posters have heard her say it was because they didn't like the property that was on offer.

OK, I had a family member known as Sally but definitely official name Sarah, but maybe her parents were more old fashioned. I can think of a few 70s Sally Anns.

I’m so sorry about your father. The Stephen Hawking comparison also crossed my mind when I watched the film trailer and the film, especially when Moth has difficulty walking.

PS - I love your username so much 👏👏😂😂

I am so sorry, to have your father dying of CBD and your mum die of MND is so cruel

(I lost one set of my grandparents in a similar way, one to Parkinson's and one to MND so painful to watch their decline)

In the film, they’re refused council housing because he has more than a year to live.

Someone on Twitter said ‘He was called Moth because there were so many holes in their story.’ Very funny!

They are fucking vampires feeding on self pitying lies. I am so angry that they did this to anyone, never mind everyone...

The Observer article states that letters chasing debts (including debts on their property in France) are still turning up at their cottage in Wales. I wonder if their (allegedly) nomadic lifestyle, vagueness over who owns the properties they have lived in more recently and name changes are an attempt to elude debt collectors?

And this is the real issue. It's the damage it does to those trying to raise money to fund research, or the disappointment of those who really do have this as an every day reality, that all the focus is now on the credibility of their story and not awareness of the condition.
We can all suck up the cost of a book and feel a bit ripped off, the feeling of being ripped off is common nowadays, but we'll get over it. For those directly and personally affected, it's a betrayal.

There's a section in The Salt Path where she describes Moth's withdrawal from Pregabalin because they have forgotten his medication.

It does make you wonder if this could be deliberate and he in fact had some substance addiction issues possibly related to the ongoing undiagnosed chronic pain he was said to be suffering from.

I could see her then latching on to a potential diagnosis of CBD rather than something more common and less likely to garner sympathy.

😂😂

The author profile of Izzy Wyn-Thomas (aka Sally) - the "mystery" author who tried to sell her self-published book with the promise of entering a free prize-draw to win the house.

Oh the irony...."her book grew from the idea that nothing is at it seems, and every story changes in the light of the readers view point."

After their supposed meeting with the housing officer who couldn't house them because Moth wasn't about to die, page 21:

'I'm glad really. I can't imagine living in a council house down the road from the farm. That would be just soul-destroying.' Not only that but in such a tight-knit rural community we would be the source of gossip for months.

It all reads so differently now. They would have had people after them for money they owed.

I feel like the Observer will have spent a looong time researching this. They’re now owned by Tortoise Media, who are really well known for investigative journalis - as most people on this thread will probably know. They did a really good podcast a few years ago called Sweet Bobby - https://www.tortoisemedia.com/listen/sweet-bobby - which is now also a Netflix documentary.

@Gumballina these were my thoughts exactly. I had to force myself to finish it, and only did so because it was one of the book club's choices.

I bought the book, but realised straightaway it wasn't a page turner, so downloaded it on Audible. That was even worse! Having to listen to her droning whinging voice complaining incessantly for hours on end. It was a complete endurance test and I did have to skip through it. I think I speeded up the speech to about 2.5

I seem to remember a bit about a cafe somewhere in Cornwall, when Whiner was - true to form - complaining about people being lucky enough to drink tea and eat scones. The nasty old cafe owner wouldn't give them free tea or scones even though they told her they were a worthy cause 🙄So they had to settle for the boiling hot water she gave them and one tea bag or something.

I can remember thinking "by the description of this little beach cafe, they are not making The Ivy kind of profits and really, you are being very entitled".

I'm another one who just wasn't buying it from the start, it was all so vague. But it was all a bit Emporer's New Clothes at the book club. You felt churlish for not sympathising with them because They Had Lost Everything.

Apologies by the way, I know the thread has moved on from the initial "I knew it didn't ring true" comments.

Am enjoying reading others' more erudite contributions.

And no mention of the house in France.
Did she forget she had it?

What with this and people giving Cornish farms away for nowt they really do have a strange old time of it with properties.

They also did the investigation into Neil Gaiman’s history of alleged sexual assaults on women.

Imagine being so wealthy you can forget how many properties you own.

Yes, who is the mystery person that - even before the book was written - allowed them use of a flat in Cornwall, and who is the person that contacted them on Twitter to offer them the use of a Cornish farm? This is one of the things I am finding most suspicious.