Thread 12: 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 ...
2nd Observer https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-whats-in-the-book-and-what-the-observer-has-found
3rd Observer https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-salt-path-the-truth-behind-the-blockbuster-book-video
4th Observer ‘I felt I was being gaslit’ – the landlord who helped Ray...
Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement Raynor Winn
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New posters welcome. It would be helpful to read at least the four Observer items above before posting. There are currently 10 items on The Observer website The real Salt Path | The Observer
To all - Please be extremely cautious when it comes to naming or implicating people and addresses not in the public eye or with no direct connection to the story, and around the understandable health speculations, especially where details are unclear or still emerging. Please do not engage with visitors who seem to have their own agenda and seek to derail. Avoid @'ing and quoting them as - from experience - this will only encourage them back to the threads. We have done amazingly well together for eleven very interesting, very serious and very silly threads so far. I can't be here as much as I'd like so all help with keeping our discussion walking along in a healthy and civil fashion is very welcome.
No saltiness. Keep to the path.
Will our life-size cardboard cut-out Simon Armitage keep his head?
NB Timeline coming in the first posts of this thread for reference.

Not sure that their continuing silence reflects terribly well on them (albeit probably appropriate for various reasons).

@Uricon2 I agree & Jason said he’d often had the misfortune to work with unlikeable characters in the past so Raymoth were truly refreshing in honesty & integrity stakes. My gut feel was Gillian A had picked up on something that pointed to all this rather earlier. Both GA & JI come out of this well.

@TonstantWeader I think Raymoth hoped or thought that a ‘heartfelt’ rebuttal would make this go away but I am not sure it can salvage their reputation. Ray I think a very tough character indeed which will help any come back tied to next book, which I think will be published in time, with a large donation to a homeless charity or similar.

Jason Isaacs must be very upset by all this. I think he’ll possibly be party to much more than we are which may point to even more of a lack of integrity on their part.

With that in mind, I wonder if Chloe H will attempt to get in touch with him or with Gillian Anderson - or has already done so - to try and see if they’ll talk to her off the record about Raymoth so she can build up a pattern of their behaviour?

No idea honestly, how is the situation described in TWS? I haven't read that and can't remember now what's been said about it.

Agree with this ❤️ I really liked their performances in the film. And as a complete aside, I really liked JI in the latest season of The White Lotus and am currently watching him in a mini series called Archie, where he’s playing Cary Grant and is also very good. Would recommend both.

That's so upsetting..As I said in an earlier thread, it's a truly wicked thing to have done 😠

I think Raymoth hoped or thought that a ‘heartfelt’ rebuttal would make this go away but I am not sure it can salvage their reputation.

The issue - in my opinion - was that RayMoth’s rebuttal was complete nonsense!

ETA: I’m reminded of that old PR saying for how to handle things when you’ve messed up - ‘tell it all, tell it early, tell it yourself’. I think it’s pretty sound advice, but RayMoth didn’t even follow it really - just the ‘tell it yourself’ bit.

@Fandango52 is it possible JI & GA will assume all this is muck raking, not look too closely & believe Ray’s rebuttal (?) They may not have delved too deeply into all this.

@lifeturnsonadime that is just so sad and shows the real harm done by all this.

I agree. In an ideal world there would be a pretty hefty financial consequence for them, but I think the loss of their reputation will hit very hard. Even if they keep their millions, people know the truth now. It would be very hard to continue to feel part of a community after this.

and even though they seem very tight as a couple, none of us know what goes on behind closed doors. This is the point where either of them could turn on the other and blame them. If the TW as a fantasist scenario is accurate, with him blagging his way into jobs and aspiring to a life style beyond their means, she could point the finger at him. Or he could blame her entirely. Even if they stick solidly together, there must be some difficult conversations going on between them.

I think she’s a clever woman so it’s odd (?) this felt like a knee-jerk decision she took without any legal (?) or decent advice. No one doubts Moth is ill so it was almost a straw man she set up there too.

I fear you're right about this - only minor consequences for the Walkers.

But I fear even more that nothing will change in the publishing industry - they will continue to publish 'non-fiction' that is maximally emotionally manipulative as 'unflinchingly honest', while squinting as hard as they can to not see the glaring inconsistencies that might spoil their bottom line if they would do just a bit of background checking and draw the appropriate consequence of not publishing.

The only thing that could change that is the public waking up to this and boycotting this stuff, but I don't really see that happening either.

Maybe. I’d hope they’d do some digging, as they both come across as quite well-informed and curious, but I think it’s completely understandable if they decide not to engage with this anymore. As far as they’re concerned,
they’ve done their job well and behaved professionally, and it’s absolutely no fault of theirs that this happened.

My recollection is that when the Oberver article was published, SW immediately said that she was going to lawyers and therefore wouldn't comment. But a day or so later, out came the "rebuttal" diatribe. Who knows: perhaps she couldn't wait for the legal advice to be provided or perhaps she ignored it (or perhaps her lawyers said that it was a masterpiece and a brilliant idea to publish it).

The ‘rebuttal’ really hasn’t helped has it!!

I think it has with a swathe of the public who wanted to escape the four walls in lock down, they’ve not looked too closely. The more discerning however…

Regarding the name she writes under.

That must have come from her and Tim.

I very much doubt she'd be advertising herself as Sally Walker to all and sundry.

At least with a name change, most people who didn't read a book written by Raynor Winn wouldn't connect any publicity they may have come across to a Sally Walker who absconded owing money. Unless they saw her picture.

If she had written under her own name, ears would have pricked up, and a lot more people would have been aware, and potentially decided to pursue her for what she owed.

After all, in 2018 when TSP was published, a lot of her debts would have been within the 6 year cut off period.

So I don't think that came from her agent or publisher. I think it came from her and Tim having a discussion and choosing new names for themselves before she went looking to sell her writing.

Thank you for the recommendation...it does sound good 👍

I think you’re right :(

And, in reply to this bit in your post (The only thing that could change that is the public waking up to this and boycotting this stuff, but I don't really see that happening either.),
I don’t see how the public can be aware of anything dodgy and boycotting it without someone unearthing it (e.g. an investigative journalist or even an anonymous source who has rock-solid evidence for everything they’ve flagged up).

And without wanting to sound too dramatic, I think the society we live in - and the way we consume news and information - has a lot to answer for as, thanks to that, there will always be some people who will defend to the death anything that’s been disproved and debunked.

Not sure that their continuing silence reflects terribly well on them (albeit probably appropriate for various reasons).

I think their silence reflects very well on them.

Maintaining a dignified silence is fine, I think. They won't be doing any further publicity for the film, and will continue their careers in other projects.

Saying nothing speaks volumes in itself!

@User14March
My gut feel was Gillian A had picked up on something that pointed to all this rather earlier.
There is something that struck me as odd in the pictures I've seen with the Walkers & the actors: TW is very much physically leaning towards GA and away from is wife - and in one picture it looks as if GA is leaning away from him.

And it's definitely not an issue of him always standing like that - in pictures of just him ans Sally, even one from the same occasion, he is leaning in the other direction towards her.

Maybe GA noticed that TW was smooching up to her and it made her feel uncomfortable - for one because of the unwanted advance, but if she was emotionally invested in the whole Raymoth undying love narrative, this kind of thing would have shattered that illusion.

It would of course also make SW feel like shit - the massage scene in TSP already shows quite a lot of self-doubt towards younger women that TW might feel attracted to.

Also this picture

RW joined IG in Oct 2016 and the account doesn’t show any username changes. So fair to conclude she joined using the same name she uses now.

@Hyenana It’s hard to tell from photos but does Moth look a bit generally detached from Ray? The power dynamic feels uneven between them all along for me.

I agree and gave thought this for some time. I think GA looks the kind of woman TW would be attracted to whereas SW often looks frumpy.