A journalist who works tirelessly to uncover a scandal – discovering claims of lies, theft and deception on a global scale – must surely be hoping their findings lead to some kind of justice. Consequences. Retribution.
For Observer reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou, however, the reality has been somewhat different. In a new Sky documentary, a former employee of publisher Penguin tells her: “Your investigation actually sent The Salt Path back to the top of the bestsellers chart.”
Hadjimatheou’s exposé didn’t bring down the author at its centre, it lifted her up. It also unwittingly confirmed the old adage that “all publicity is good publicity”. It appears that money talks the talk (even if there’s speculation you actually didn’t even walk the walk). The real winner of The Salt Path scandal? Raynor Winn. By a landslide.
At this point, the story behind the story is better than the 2018 memoir, which has been translated into over 25 languages and turned into a movie starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. The book, described on Penguin Random House’s website as “an unflinchingly honest, inspiring and life-affirming true story”, went to the top of the charts.
People were charmed, gripped and – as the publisher promised – inspired by the tale of a penniless, homeless couple overcoming adversity; a man with a serious illness allegedly “walking himself better” on an epic journey along the Coast Path in South West England. And that’s the dangerous kernel at the heart of this grab-the-popcorn saga: others diagnosed with the same terminal disease, CBD (fatal corticobasal degeneration), may believe this is a cure.
In July this year, Hadjimatheou’s first piece was published, reporting that Winn had wildly misrepresented the circumstances in which they lost their home – and that experts had doubts over husband Moth having CBD at all. Revealing Winn and Moth’s legal names to be Sally and Timothy Walker, the paper alleged Winn had stolen thousands of pounds from an employer. Medics pointed out Moth’s lack of acute CBD symptoms and incredulity over his assertion that he’d reversed them.
Winn hit back in a statement posted to her website, insisting the article was “grotesquely unfair, highly misleading and seeks to systematically pick apart my life”. She further doubled down: “The journey held within those pages is one of salt and weather, of pain and possibility. And I can’t allow any more doubt to be cast on the validity of those memories, or the joy they have given so many.”
Her publisher, Penguin, stood by her, clarifying that they “undertook all the necessary pre-publication due diligence”, including a contract with an author warranty about factual accuracy and a legal read.
But there was more to come. Last weekend, a second Observer piece was published, on the eve of the airing of a new Sky documentary, The Salt Path Scandal. Both held further shocking claims – including that Winn stole tens of thousands of pounds from her and her husband’s elderly parents, which she apparently confessed to in a letter addressed to her sister in which she appears to admit being “addicted” to theft. Winn has strongly denied the allegations and said she did not write the letter.
But the latest revelations also include testimonials from neurologists who are happy to go on record as being sceptical about Moth’s apparent ability to survive 18 years with the rare neurological condition. One expert agrees that his obvious good health is not consistent with the disease – voicing surprise that the specialist the couple say showed them improved scans of Moth’s brain failed to write the miraculous case up for a medical journal.
And one relative told the Observer: “The inference that they did the walk in one go, because they were homeless and living in tents, is rubbish… They did walking holidays, like most people do.” In other words, even the hike at the centre of the story – the foundation for the whole memoir – appears to be untrue, or at least greatly exaggerated.
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So the publisher has disowned Winn, the book has been pulped, she’ll never work in this (or any other) town again, right? Hmmm… not quite.
Her next book is already available to pre-order on Penguin’s website; Amazon reviews for The Salt Path remain largely positive, indicating that readers are either unaware of the controversy, or simply do not care about it; and Winn has reportedly made millions from sales, personal appearances and the film adaptation.
What do we learn from this in our “fake news” era: is it that the truth is irrelevant? That you can get away with anything if you just deny, deny, deny? This isn’t the ending anybody wanted, but it’s the one we appear to be stuck with.
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