Thread 26 : To feel disappointed - and disgusted and vindicated now too - after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

NO POSTS PLEASE UNTIL THREAD 25 IS FULL

Please see the OP of Thread 25 for all the links to The Observer's reporting and podcast series, our threads one to 24 and so on.

After 25,000 posts there are still new things to discuss:
BBC Sounds - Secrets of the Salt Path - Available Episodes
If you are posting about a podcast, please start your post with the episode number you are commenting on, for clarity and to help others avoid spoilers if they wish to do so.

New posters joining us in the genuine spirit of our civil discourse are welcome. It would be helpful to get the background from at least some of the Observer exposé items before posting. The Observer's excellent podcast series The Walkers (link in Thread 25) covers most things.
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, especially where details are unclear or still emerging. Remember, even Hollywood rabbits attract the odd flea: please do not engage with drive-by scolders 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. For over 8 months we have done amazingly well together for 25 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.

As ever, as we embark on our 26th thread riding the community charabanc, keep to the path, no saltiness, eat fudge and drink cider.

NO POSTS PLEASE UNTIL THREAD 25 IS FULL: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5485730-thread-25-to-feel-disappointed-and-disgusted-and-vindicated-now-too-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

This is absolutely spot on and as soon as I followed the notification and that appeared on screen, I choked on my breakfast. Brilliant! 😆

This is a good interview with Our Chloe. She speaks with such authority on this subject by now! It was only broadcast yesterday.

I was struck by, at 39 mins, how people were "robbed emotionally"; and, 43 mins, "she has not produced these brain scans".

The Salt Path became an instant bestseller. But, is it true? | Crime Story | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen

THAT is an absolute insult to Mr B Brush!!!!

Review of the US film release:

The Salt Path doesn't make sense until you understand its scandal

Excellent review @ThompsonTwin - thanks for sharing it!

Yes, thanks for sharing this - I can't praise this analysis enough. I am not usually a fan of American phrases but this had me laughing:

The Salt Path is full of these little moments that now reek of phoniness.

It reads like the inimitable Holden Caulfield's* summing up.

(*the protagonist, The Catcher in the Rye)

Thank you for finding and posting that @ThompsonTwin it was really interesting and the comments too are thankfully devoid of the sycophancy that plagues the British posts and articles.

But the clothes!!

Seems like there is a new cover design for TSP!

Not seen that in any of the shops. Is it for real?

@Anythingbutheadlands won't like that cover. BTW, is that a trig point in the distance, amd is there someone planking on it?

That’s sickening, especially as it still has a quote from the Sunday Times on it. If it has to be sold why can’t all that be removed now? It’s not right to keep any of the old quotes on it. I didn’t know if it was real or not but found it on Amazon with all the old selling points and lies.

Continuing with small acts of activism: I’m currently far away in Southern Africa visiting a humanitarian project and in the communal kitchen I found the dreaded TSP among books to be read/exchanged. Needless to say, I have removed it and it is now going to be returning to the UK where it will be ceremonially burned - (I have replaced it with another novel)

update: Mr AnythingButHeadlands has said we’re not taking it back with us - he’s going to tear it up here and put it in the garbage

Does the new cover mean that AH is no longer the illustrator for RW's books? I suppose this means the film tie-in run has sold out.

I'm not sure which cover the book comes with @SaltyTea, I've looked at the Amazon site, where it has further information it says cover may vary?

For me, the best cover was the one when The Observer first ran the story - the bird squawking in horror at the couple. I have wondered if Angela Harding gave her consent to that 'edit' of her work. She may have not been able to amend her contract with Penguin but still had ownership of that artwork?

There is a similar background - to the colour of the background, and the lettering, in OC's first video on the subject. Is it a variation that Amazon have used in their marketing rather than on an actual copy?

It is really strange @MulberryBrandy, I looked at some other sellers that also show this different cover, when further images are viewed the old cover is shown. What is going on? they already have the original cover, plus the film still cover, why this new design? is it a marketing ploy or will this become the new cover?

But they've no longer got anything about it being a true story on the cover -- minor gain? (Did it formerly have? I only have it on Kindle, and of course it's automatically updated itself to the new cover.)

I suppose they can claim that this quote from the Sunday Times is a 'real' quotation. Someone reviewed the book and really wrote that. OK, based on a deeply mistaken assumption that the book was true, but still...

Just like it really was a best-seller. (Alas.)

Not sure why they would have a new cover now. I know film tie-in covers often have quite a limited licensing period, but in that case, you'd think they would revert to the original cover art?

ETA Maybe the publishers think the original cover design has become too associated with the complete dismantling of any claims to truth of TSP (as many news stories riffed off that AH cover, so it's an attempt to distance the book from that, and perhaps appeal to a new readership?

This may be a coincidence but AH seems to have removed all TSP mentions and prints from her website.

I suspect AH has revoked permission for PRH to use her cover design on any new editions of TSP. I seem to recall she had a couple of run ins with Sal - over Sal's claim that AH owed much of her success to strong sales of TSP and Sal's request that she get a framed print of the front cover of TWS from AH without having to pay for it!

Yes, and to add to what I was thinking about earlier - the colours. It is being re-marketed for the summer holiday beach read. That turquoise sea with the sunshine of 'Raynor Winn' at the top.

A summer blockbuster love story by a 'Ray' of sunshine. 😎

The author of this fraudulent tale is laughing all the way to the bank

She did that when the story first broke!

Yes, that's been the case for a while. One can't blame her. Who, in the full knowledge that TSP helped her career, as much as her illustrations made TSP memorable on bookshop shelves, would want their star to be hitched to the Salray Snakeoil Wagon any more than necessary?

But I know nothing about illustrators' contracts. Yes, I suppose it's entirely possible that AH's contract specified her image was licensed for whatever number of editions of TSP, or a time limit, and then declined to renew it when it came up for grabs.

I wonder what's on the back cover now?