Thread 5: 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 ...

Second article in the Observer
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-whats-in-the-book-and-what-the-observer-has-found

Third item in the Observer
https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-the-truth-behind-the-blockbuster-book-video

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Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement Raynor Winn

That's all she'd need to compile the story.

Going to try and sleep in this heat now, but still feel worked up by the pair of them, dodgy AF!

What the Salt Path fiasco tells us about publishing

https://www.thetimes.com/article/385db610-0d4c-45ec-887b-6bcac597feae?shareToken=7c4cf4af9289e681a2b92683902028f6

I've just listened to the Observer podcast. Chloe Hadjmatheou (the journalist) said that she made a number of approaches to the Wynns. First she approached them about Moth's diagnosis/condition. Then she approached them about the overall story. She gave them a week to respond and they asked for more time. When they did respond, it was just the brief statement that they quoted in the article. So the Wynns must have known (for a few weeks at least) that a journalist was onto them. I wonder if they approached Penguin and gave them the heads up? Or did they take a deep breath and cross their fingers?

Actually, Chloe said that she also approached Penguin and asked for a statement. So Penguin would have known in advance that there was a problem.

Chloe H said elsewhere that the investigation had taken months, so I wonder if, after she got in touch with the Walkers at the start, they decided to leave the cider farm.

When the DM went there they'd apparently been gone months.

It might correspond.

No I think there's a whole new story to be told in relation to the cider farm

I doubt there are any copies of the earlier novel around.
I spent a week on a walking holiday with a successful self-publicist/author (she was claiming a 6 figure annual income at that point). Part of her USP was writing books about how to be a successful author, and she said that if you self-published, you simply ran off the copies as they were ordered.
I'm guessing it's slightly more complex if you want things to look professional; but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the planned modus operandi of Gangani press. So, no unsold copies in existence if that's the case.

They should have sent copies to the copyright libraries: Legal Deposit Libraries | Ministry of Injustice | Law and Justice

Makes sense as that's a normal part of the process to make sure they have had opportunities to respond
But it shows what fools they have made of the films stars, letting the GA/JI talk on their behalf

Basically it’s a mess. They are totally unbelievable but there may be some foundation of “their truth” as to how it all came about.

The problem is that the actual truth differs hugely from their alleged perception of the truth.

Inevitably more will come out in the next few days and weeks.

The saying “what goes around, comes around”.

Their profile is too high now for it all to quietly go away. If it was mere embellishment that would be fine. But it’s not. The embezzlement, the bailiffs, the doing a runner, credit cards being taken out in his name, cheques bouncing, people being owed money. The picture is building and it’s not a good one.

I'm thinking of the One Show appearance with Jason Isaacs, where Sally Walker is talking about how they lost their house, and he interjects, "you were swindled! You can't say it but I can!"

I wonder what she was thinking when she would have been approached by Chloe H by then about everything.

https://emmaus.org.uk/cornwall/raynor-winn-in-conversation/ looking as rough as a bears arse. Probably kipping at relative homes

Article in the DM. They name the wealthy relative 'Cooper' as Tim Walker's uncle.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14897835/questions-salt-path-couple-memoir-3million-homeless.html

Won't there be a copy in the British Library - don't they have a copy of every book published in the last 50 years in the UK with an ISBN?

The statement from the farmer neighbour (John Griffin Lloyd) that they left the house at 2am and were never seen again and the bailiffs knocked the front door down the next morning seems to completely contradict Ray Winn's dramatic account in TSP of what happened, as outlined in chpt 1: Dust of Life:

• Moth and herself hiding under the stairs "whispering like scared mice" as the bailiffs, clad in black hammered on the front door
• SW spotting Five Hundred Mile Walkies in a packing box
• Saying to Moth "we could just walk" and then impulsively deciding to walk the SWCP
• Holding hands and walking "into the light" as the bailiuffs stand on the other side "waiting to change the locks"

A very dramatic start to TSP but is it complete fiction?

Is the uncle (not exactly a distant relative or a childhood friend "riding trikes and playing football together"!) named?

I believe Tim Walker has 3 siblings - Janette, Martyn and Adrian. Martyn is the father of James Walker who works as a naval architect in Southampton and had some fairly disparaging things to say about his uncle and aunt!

@Catwith69lives good thinking, but self published books don’t legally need an isbn… some do have them anyway though, so could be worth a check

I made the mistake of looking at comments on Facebook under an independent article about TSP

So many people saying ‘it’s a lovely story, does it really matter’, ‘she’s admitted she made mistakes’, ‘so she changed a few bits, it’s still a great book, the debt has been repaid’. Completely not seeming to care that she ripped off a family business and only repaid that money because a prison sentence would have been likely otherwise!

The Times this morning, interviews with former neighbours -

www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/the-salt-path-scandal-raynor-winns-former-neighbours-2jp70qjpv

@Cakeandcheeseforever yes, I've looked at the FB comments on several articles and they're overwhelmingly supportive of SW. Many saying "she's provided medical evidence" too.

But what's telling for me is the complete tumbleweed from anyone you'd expect to support them who actually knows them (their children, "Dave and Julie"...) even people who claim to have met them during their walks are extremely few and far between.

It does have an isbn

ISBN 9780957303102 (ISBN10: tel:0957303106 0957303106

It would have been interesting if Simon Armitage had confirmed whether he had heard the mistaken identity stories at the time he was walking the SWCP. Surely someone would have told him a "funny" story about their silly mistake. If he has mentioned it then we might at least have some vague evidence that they were even there at around the same time.

Behind a paywall - can anybody transcribe?

This is a useful tool for looking at old web content https://web.archive.org - if anyone wants to do some sleuthing and check what content used to appear on websites, it takes snapshots and you can look back at different years

The Salt Path scandal: what Raynor Winn’s former neighbours think

https://www.thetimes.com/article/a0e03dbe-8322-4693-a1c8-ecf55f693648?shareToken=f5c5de04ad55e95219c4b7d9afa196c0