Thread 3: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

The Observer The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

Thread One ^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?^

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

I'm inclined to give them some leeway on their new statement particularly when the most serious allegation appears to be that they fabricated their illness, yet the documents provided suggest there’s a prima facie case they did not. They went through significant personal struggles, took steps that seemed to change the course of their life for the better, and, like many, made mistakes along the way.

What’s unfolding now feels less like accountability and more like a feeding frenzy a witch hunt driven more by outrage than nuance. If they’ve been unfairly smeared, they should absolutely consider fighting back legally. No one deserves to be destroyed for trying to survive.

Did she explain what they were doing when they tried to raise money by raffling their mortgaged house?

Also, note the letter dated 2015 reads like it is the first mention of possible CBD/S to explain T's symptoms. That's 2 years after they did the walk, which undermines the Salt Path version which relied upon the terminal diagnosis to drive the story. Basically, this all seems to point to TSP being a patchwork of real life events, but significantly reordered and recontextualised with fictional elements added to craft a compelling story arc. The story of the redemptive walk simply wouldn't work without the house loss or terminal diagnosis to drive their desperation. The book emotionally cons the reader.

@DiamondThrone thank you for saying this, as I couldn’t follow it at all. It goes round in circles.

If they really are as innocent as she says, the only other explanation is that she is quite daft. And definitely shouldn’t have been working as a bookkeeper. Perhaps coming across as a naive idiot who just kept making mistakes and couldn’t understand how money or business works is the defence she is hoping for.

This is what I think too.

I have only managed to skim read RW/SW's statement and the medical letters. I will have a proper look later. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts on them so far.

My own initial response is this: A number of years of having to look at rafts of information about people in forensic detail taught me that the most important points in these situations are a) look at what is not there as much as what is, b) follow the money and c) once the tree has been shaken, not all the birds want to sit quietly in it again.

I want to give the Winn-Walkers the benefit of the doubt but so far I am not convinced at all.

She is certainly the hero in her life story

her story is as holey as Swiss cheese but there will always be those who will read it and just accept it

Still struggling to find the terminal diagnosis. Can you find it? Have you read the letters?

I agree about the medical stuff but i have a reservation. Note the letter dated 2015 reads like it is the first mention of possible CBD/S to explain T's symptoms. That's 2 years after they did the walk, which undermines the Salt Path version which relied upon the terminal diagnosis to drive the story. Basically, this all seems to point to TSP being a patchwork of real life events, but significantly reordered and recontextualised with fictional elements added to craft a compelling story arc. The story of the redemptive walk simply wouldn't work without the house loss or terminal diagnosis to drive their desperation. The book emotionally cons the reader.

The final, Feb 2025 letter, is very strangely worded. It references the film and it is almost like they are anticipating some interrogation about his condition

The neurologist who raved about the Salt Path book in a rather inappropriate way (reference on Wikipedia) is based in Wales....

I was reading salt path (and hating it, all the lies about being called old every ten minutes😐) when it all blew up with the observer.
I've finished it and went as usual to put a review on goodreads.
It won't let me. Goodreads won't let anyone put a review or star rating.
It says it has an unusual number of reviews on this book

I agree to an extent.

Although I wonder whether the doctor sitting them down and giving Moth a terminal diagnosis at the same time as they lost the house is actually what happened? The timeline is very muddy.

No, naive people don't vanish and not show up at a police interview and then reappear keen to pay back the money provided there is an NDA.

Just read the statement. There's a good saying. If in a hole, best to stop digging 😂
Who is advising her? Or has she gone rouge.

I worked for Martin Hemmings in the years before the economic crash of 2008

At the same time your husband was buying a property in France.

I do hope someone able follows the money.

Haven’t read the full thread, but in case it’s not been said already, she has posted on Instagram sharing medical letters re his illness. And obvs to say how heartbreaking and devastating all the accusations have been… Full statement on her website apparently, though I haven’t been to read it.

ETA oh I see people mentioning letters so guess you’re all on it already! Sorry, struggling so much with mumsnet taking hours to load up that I couldn’t catch up on all the pages.

Coincidence, innit 🤔.

Nope.

According to the letters supplied by SW, the POSSIBLE (NOT CONFIRMED) diagnosis of CBS was first suggested almost 2 years after the date on which they set off for their walk.

That's not quite the same as receiving definite confirmation of a terminal diagnosis!

(Although the letter also makes it clear that TW had had symptoms for many years).

If this statement is the strongest statement they can make, and it's based on the advice of lawyers, then I don't believe it exonerates them from very much at all.

Someone upthread questioned if their lawyers had really suggested they proceed with it.

But it must be the strongest thing they have, and they're hoping no one rebuts their rebuttal.

Putting in the bit about the "economic crash of 2008" is another diversion tactic. Nobody knew it was coming. So how would it affect her at that time?

Who am I to judge? If I were given a tentative diagnosis like the one in that letter one that clearly could be CBS I can honestly say my partner and I would likely fall into a deep slough of anxiety or depression after reading up on it. I can only imagine, with some horror, how that kind of uncertainty and fear might affect our sense of self and our choices.

If that moment became a turning point one that spurred me to live differently, to seek solace, purpose, or even healing who am I to question that path? It’s easy to critique from a distance, far harder to grasp what it feels like to live in the shadow of something that might, or might not, define the rest of your life.

There's no mud here.

They apparently walk in 2013, the potential diagnosis is made in 2015.

The neurologist is Rhys Davies, and the letter in October 2019 has the ref RD/IH. The RD may or may not be his initials.

I was told there was possibility I had MND, it was one of the things they needed to rule out due to my presentation. It turned out I had something rarer and far more manageable. Crap , but much more manageable.

I don't go round telling everyone I have MND but have reversed it by swimming three times a week.