Thread 16: 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's original exposé: The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

The 14 Observer items currently available on their online 'The real Salt Path' page: The real Salt Path | The Observer

More from The Observer:
‘Hope is extinguished’: CBD patients respond to Salt Path...
The real Salt Path | The Observer (The Slow Newscast)
I will link to two more Observer videos in the first post of this thread.

The Observer YouTube Channel: The Observer UK - YouTube

Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement: Raynor Winn

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?^

Threads 2-11: Links all in the OP of Thread 12

Thread 12: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5384574-thread-12-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 13: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5386458-thread-13-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 14: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5388981-thread-14-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

New posters joining us in the genuine spirit of our civil discourse welcome. It would be helpful to get the background from at least some of the Observer items above before posting. There are currently a number of interesting items on The Observer website and linked to above.

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. Remember, even Hollywood rabbits attract the odd flea. 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 fifteen 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 our usual reasonable and respectful fashion is very welcome.

Yes, it really is Thread 16.

Keep to the path. No saltiness. May the fudge be with you.

I think whatever the diagnosis may be or may not be, SW’s has tried to position herself to claim that they genuinely did feel devastated and that she was totally distressed. It’s a more tricky one to argue with.

She could claim extreme health anxiety.
She could even (if she admits it wasn’t a definitive diagnosis of CBD) claim that the lack of certainty around a diagnosis and prognosis made it all even more stressful and frightening.

One thing’s for sure: this woman is very experienced in putting her own spin on a situation!

I’m sure that’s why her rebuttal focusses first and foremost on Moth’s health - ‘how dare anyone question it? It’s so dreadful! Look, I’ll even post confidential medical letters to ‘prove’ it!’

In contrast, the embezzlement is relatively glossed over, with ‘mistakes were made’ and SW just saying the court case in the book isn’t to do with Martin Hemmings (technically true but ignoring the fact if she hadn’t stolen from him then there wouldn’t be a court case) 😂

Some say that paying back the embezzled funds exonerates SW but she did not come clean and pay the money back out of the goodness of her heart or even out of remorse. She paid it back because she got caught and it was done in a 'deal' to avoid prosecution. Not a good look.

The only thing with that is her despair of the diagnosis was not concurrent with the walk. This is one reason why the timeline and order of events matter in this case.

Oh absolutely, the whole thing is full of holes. I’m just making the point that a person’s reaction to health issues is quite a subjective thing. Whereas it’s a lot harder to wriggle out of stealing tens of thousands of pounds

Raymoth are a busted flush I'm afraid. The nephew's LI comments that his uncle and aunt were pathological liars has proved uncannily accurate based on everything that has emerged over the last 7 weeks. Why should anybody trust them again?

Life of Exmoor nature writer Hope Bourne recognised with exhibition | Wildlife | The Guardian

Also not a good look if, as a condition of returning the money, she got Mr Hemmings to sign a contract where she could sue him if he revealed to anyone what had happened.

Hi, thank you I have learnt something today as I had heard of the book but not read it and have followed the links posters have kindly put on here and the Observer reports. It makes me feel sad that the author manipulated readers like this, with such falsehoods. I don’t understand why they didn’t release it as a fiction ‘inspired by’ real life events.

I think this is what a lot of us are wondering. If they just left out that phrase 'unflinchingly truthful' (written by PRH), we probably wouldn't be having this discussion. We'd still be talking about the possible lies about TSP being her first book and some of the morally questionable actions taken, but whether or not Moth is or isn't seriously ill and the nature of his illness would never have raised its head. SW could have pleaded that she was writing fiction inspired by real life and these questions would never have arisen. The fact that it is being marketed as true is what we really object to.

I'm not so sure, because RW/SW directly claimed in interviews that her husband was terminally ill and had two years to live in real life, and MW/TW directly claimed to Bill Cole that he was terminally ill and wouldn't see Christmas only months away in real life. There was a banner headline in The Times including 'her terminally ill husband' from their interview with RW/SW. That all goes far beyond what was written in the books and what could have been solved by reclassifying them as fiction or based on true events and removing 'unflinchingly honest'.

A whistle-blower's doubts about MW/TW's health claims were what started Chloe's investigations for The Observer in the first place. I do wonder - no evidence for this - whether that was Bill Cole.

Absolutely, but if we are talking purely about the books, then it is the 'flinchingly untruthful' nature of the writing that has raised all the questions. Interviews and other matters that arose because of the writing of the books are almost a separate matter. And if SW hadn't maintained that it was all TROOOOO, then matters around how ill Moth is (or isn't) would be a matter of curiousity and interpretation. I mean, we are ALL terminally ill if you look upon it that way, and maybe she really DID think he only had two years to live because of a misunderstanding of something they were told. This is where it becomes 'her truth' rather than 'unflinchingly truthful', but if the book had been marketed as fiction 'inspired by real life' then it wouldn't have pulled heartstrings the way it did, but it would have been more honest, oddly.

One thing that’s glaringly clear is that if SW had always been upfront about it being ‘fiction inspired by real life’ it wouldn’t have captured the hearts and minds of the public in the way it did and wouldn’t have catapulted her to wealth and recognition.

It was precisely the ‘unflinchingly truthful’ presentation of terminal illness with a terrible prognosis, losing their home because they’d been screwed over by a life long friend and then walking the entire SWCP in two stints which sold the book.

if it had been watered down to reflect the actual events, it may never have even been published. I mean aside from anything else, you could say all fiction is inspired by the author’s lived experience.

SW signed a contract stating factual accuracy. TSP has been marketed as factually truthful. That, quite simply, is the crux of the whole issue and discussion.

I thought for a moment her books were being demoted at Waterstones as they were at the bottom of the nature writing section. But then I realised of course it’s in alphabetical order by author name 😂

The trouble is, while changing names, places and conversations slightly for effect might be normal for a memoir, Salway has repeated certain facts numerous times in person, in interviews .... if they aren't all true that's a bit much for dramatic impact....like the time she was called a tramp and being inspired by catching sight of 500 mile walkies in a packing case while under the stairs.

I've just read my last post and realised that it's largely gobbledegook. Mea culpa for posting when I'm just home from a late shift and knackered - mistakes were made, da de da. Well done to anyone who can winnow any sense out of it!

It’s certainly true that while TSP itself avoids representing the diagnosis of CBD as firm and definitively saying the walk ‘cured’ it (I’m assuming because the legal team required changes), SW has long been making much more dramatic and tendentious claims in interviews. I have no idea where those statements stand legally.

Agreed. If in interviews she’d given a softer line then it would be different. She repeated the it all happening in one week, terminal diagnosis and so forth repeatedly.

Sadly no further articles in The Observer and I’ve reached the conclusion that there’s not going to be anything else. I imagine not enough reliable people contacted CH and quite rightly the paper won’t publish anything deemed gossip or that can’t be backed up. I think SW has retained most of her supporters as her Instagram followers haven’t significantly reduced and TSP is still 39th on the best seller list.

But all the rumpus raised has maybe had the effect of preventing anyone else who might have contemplated 'massaging' their family history for book purposes from trying to slip it past a publisher?

I don’t think there needs to be anything else. CH did a brilliant job of exposing the fundamental dishonesty: the embezzlement and the health issue. Mumsnetters have followed on with excellent sleuthing, uncovering tons of things which just don’t add up … when bits of the walk were done, whether certain events happened, does Moth really have a botany degree?!

Reputation in tatters, quite honestly.

Yes, sadly it’s looking as though The Observer has run out of solid leads. It’s been almost two months since the initial article. I’m wondering what Salray/Moth’s quality of life is like now, unable to show their face in public, let alone bask in the glow of praise and adulation? Money is not enough to make up for this I hope. A very boring life ahead?

No one enjoys being sold a lie as truth 😕 I’m glad I didn’t buy the book. I’m sure this will impact SW readership going forwards and hopefully she will feel some pang of conscience to donate a chunk of proceeds to the CBD and homeless charities (wishful thinking maybe)

I feel uneasy about Moth and the impact the ‘walk yourself well’ narrative will have re-enforced. It is unfair to CBD sufferers who couldn’t possibly achieve the physical feats he did that SW framed as the reason for his improved health.

Realistically though, what more is there to come out? The biggies are out there already: losing their house was a consequence of stealing money. It seems almost certain Moth wasn’t diagnosed with CBD in 2013 and given months to live. They didn’t walk the whole SWCP in just two stints when they said they did.

those are the 3 key factors on which TSP (and subsequent wealth, publicity and further book deals) stands.

Anything else to come out would presumably be former acquaintances saying ‘I knew they were wrong ‘uns!’ or a school friend saying Sally was a mean girl, or maybe a trail of relatively minor unpaid bills.

Of course, those could all be quite true, but isn’t there a risk they could distract from the bigger issues? SW might then try to focus on these details and claim people are just muck raking, there’s two sides to every story etc…

Tbh the damage for the Walkers is done, nothing further needs to come out. That said, the one thing I think would make a very interesting read is if the nephew who said S and T are pathological liars came back and spoke out. I would imagine there are a lot of family members who feel very aggrieved and it would be fascinating to have more insight into the wider family dynamics! But that’s just nosiness really. The key issues are out in the public domain!

Chloe and the Observer have already put out a total of eighteen articles, videos, podcasts and live events in their TSP exposé. Far more time, effort and space has been spent and given to it than either our reporter or the paper could ever have imagined - and I can say the same about these sixteen threads approaching 16,000 posts! It has just been peak holiday time, some things also take time. I believe that there will be more to come at some point.

Things were bound to slow down. The first month was pretty full-on. I wasn't expecting anything this weekend or in fact since the last item was released. As I say in my pp, give it time.

Also, in the near future there could well be a well-researched book, documentary or docuseries. The Walker-Winn-Wyns can't stay holed up forever and will be seen at some point. According to their website they were planning to hold residential health retreats in the Spring. They and the publishers will also have to make a final decision about the fourth book OWH before this time next year.

Many of the followers on Instagram could well be watching for what they say or do next, rather than being supporters of them any longer. TSP had been consistently selling less last time we were updated on here.