to think this couple in the guardian are strange and this was not an appropriate subject for a book?

[HildegardVonBingham]

My jaw was on the floor as I read this. Obviously it’s awful that they were subjected to a campaign of harassment, absolutely no excuses. But I do think it’s insensitive to write a whole BOOK about it, given that the perpetrators killed themselves in a double suicide?! I also don’t know who just lends a neighbour £10k!!! Whole piece compounds my suspicion of everyone who chooses to live in the arse end of nowhere…. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/05/dream-home-turned-nightmare-in-wales-stalker-neighbours-stalked-book

Well, not from me. I do think it’s possible that the bit that appeared in the Guardian was run through AI to abridge it, The kitchen smelling of ‘badgers and despair’ is a classic ChatGPT idiom. Maybe the prose of the actual book is less schlocky and ‘colour by numbers’.

‘Whole piece compounds my suspicion of everyone who chooses to live in the arse end of nowhere…’

Well, aren’t you charming.

After their ordeal, I hope their book is a bestseller.

Who are you to judge how they manage things

Why would they not write it because of the way the “ perpetrators died” ? Odd. YABVU.

I suspect one reason the tone felt a bit uneven and jarring is that it's excerpts from their book which have been condensed and strung together (possibly using AI?). So it feels a bit "off". I did get Salt Path vibes, but I also did a bit of googling and the basic facts of the neighbours' harassment are a matter of public record.

It's not something that sounds really bad, in a kind of kitchen sink drama style. I remember when I posted some of my creative writing in the MN board and some kind (!) poster said it sounded like some GCSE student's coursework (charming!)

I think writing, like any creative endeavour, is subjective. Personally, I find the Daily Mail style less tabloid style tthan the Guardian one in this instance (ironically!) But it's not the worst writing. At least they have a distinctive voice.😳🤔😅

Why on earth would it be 'inappropriate' to write a book about an utterly bizarre experience? And why would you expect anyone to be 'sensitive' about people who essentially carried out a campaign of torture against them, including literally petrol bombing their home and shooting at them with crossbows?

Everyone has the right to write/talk about their own experiences.

It's astonishing that you could read about what happened to this couple and think they are the weird ones here. They were victims of a horrific crime that ruined their lives for years. I'd be writing a bloody book about that if it happened to me, too.

The writing in the extracts wasn't great, in my opinion, but that's not a crime. Most writing isn't great.

But that’s nothing to do with the Guardian. It’s just bits from their book. I don’t think it’s distinctive at all — it’s pretty standard for those types of books, ghost written from interviews with the people involved.

I guess it's not truly distinctive as in original, but if it means it sounds more memorable (?!) because of how (supposedly) badly written it is, then I suppose it is "distinctive" in that sense! 😅

I read this article too. Was also quite baffled by it all, but it's clear the victimised couple went through the wringer and it's all documented, so not sure about the Salt Path insinuations.

Funnily enough I've been encouraged by multiple people to write a book about the multiple "you couldn't make this shit up" things that have swiped me from left field, but I can't bring myself to do it because most of the people involved are still alive and while I'm hurt and angry and having difficulty processing my trauma around some of their actions and behaviour, I am more concerned about destabilising what little calm there is in my life and dealing with potential backlash. It's very conflicting, very "two wolves" and I'm not sure how long it's going to take to "letbit go". The main perps are the types to lash out in any convenient direction, and I'm more concerned about the impact on their nearests and dearests than on me - I feel shit enough already.

But it's interesting to wonder how many people don't write books about experiences that would make very interesting reading for similar reasons, when there are plenty who do. The capacity for people to do terrible, unbelievable things to other people for perceived slights baffles me. Who in there right minds thinks damaging property or threatening life is ever going to end well? But there's the rub I suppose - they're sadly not in their right minds, and also sadly nobody really wins.

Well, it depends why you would be writing it. But publishers are incredibly careful when it comes to issues of libel on named, living people who may claim they are identifiable and that the book damages their reputation/good character and take legal action. A friend who wrote a memoir a few years back says she spent longer dealing with the changes required by her publishers’ legal team than actually writing it in the first place.

I think this book, for instance, could only have been written in its current form once the Collinses were dead, and because there will be all the police evidence to back up their claims if any of the Collinses’ family members dispute things.

you know misery lit is a whole thing right? it sells millions. people want to share their trauma, people want to read about trauma. little kids beaten and abused, women fleeing horrors, families stalked and harassed. it all sells.

agree with pp tho, who'd bother buying the book now? I know what happened.

perhaps they're hoping the book sales will help recoup some of their financial losses

haha I did think gosh they'd have got paid for that in take a break!

I think it’s informative to know we live amongst complete weirdos and bell-ends. It’ll keep us on our toes for sure and educate us how to avoid them like the plague. A bit like the perpetrators programme with DV agencies!

I read this on Sunday and it stayed with me. V odd tale, v badly told. And I too got Salt Path vibes. Obviously there is truth to this story, as there are news reports about it. But what on earth else is there to tell over and above this extract? The extract IS the story, and embellished and padded to tons more than words than needed as is.

As I was reading it, I thought that it sounded like a tv drama.

I can’t see this being optioned as there’s such a strange ending. There’s no uplifting story, no redemption, just endless questions and darkness.

A screenwriter would fictionalise events to make it more dramatically satisfying. Real life is always going to need some adapting to work as fiction or screen drama.

Yes, the writing is terrible. It’s a like a children’s story.

I don't think the couple who wrote it are strange. Only the awful Collins couple

Yes, and where this story has parallels with The Salt Path is the couple's supposed special connection to the land. The redemption is that they are the ones who can rewild/heal the land wherever they have appropriated in Wales/Cornwall. The red kite circling overhead is a special symbol of how right it is for them to be there - in TSP it is a peregrine falcon ....

"Well they write well for a start, so I can see why they would want to apply those skills"

I couldn't disagree more. The terrible writing made me tune out of the article before I got to the end, I just couldn't carry on with it. If they wanted their story heard, I'd have thought a Netflix documentary, of the ilk of Should I Marry A Murderer or Sweet Bobby would be a better vehicle.

Bingo. And by about paragraph 5 I was thinking 'I wonder how that would go down in Wales (or Cornwall also)', never mind the closing lines of this piece. Not sure they would identify the smell of a badger if one trotted on its hind legs through the kitchen holding a can of Pledge.

Sometimes it can be therapy, writing it all down. You know, if people don't want to read it they don't have to. So not really sure what your problem is with other people sharing their story?

Who are we to question how they should be dealing with trauma?
Writing about it seems quite sensible to me anyways…

And if financial aspects play a role: Why shouldn’t they?

This targeted campaign of harassment, stalking and what must have felt like attempted murder (the fire bombs) was financially and emotionally expensive, as was mentioned in the article…

I certainly feel sympathy for the loved ones of the perpetrators. But that doesn’t negate the rights of their victims.