I have a confession. I have not read The Salt Path. And that is odd, since I love nature books and I love books about walking. Raynor Winn’s travel memoir about the author and her ill husband walking the South West Coast Path should be right up my street. Perhaps I was put off by its resounding success and immediate ubiquity.
Yet frankly, I am now desperate to read it, after the scandal upon scandal that has befallen the book and its author. The old cliché is that any publicity is good publicity; against all the odds, that seems to be very true in this case.
Questions were first raised last summer, when The Observer alleged that some of the key facts set out by Winn were inaccurate. In particular, it reported that Winn and her husband Moth had lost their home not as the result of a bad business deal but as a consequence of Ms Winn being accused of stealing money from a former employer. Not only that, but the newspaper questioned Moth’s diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration, which was central to the narrative.
The couple disputed the allegations and have maintained that the book is their honest account of a difficult period in their lives.
Now, it has emerged that The Salt Path was not Winn’s first book despite her talking previously about how she’d written nothing else since being a teenager at school. In fact, the BBC has revealed she wrote a self-published book under a pseudonym six years before The Salt Path came out. Only a few copies were printed.
All this will add to the howls of criticism around Winn’s actions. But the initial allegations about the factual basis of The Salt Path did not negatively affect sales; and it’s unlikely that the latest revelations will either.
That is in part because the book evidently struck a chord with many readers: a tale of the British countryside, of the kindness of strangers and of overcoming adversity. Whether there was some “artistic license” involved may in that context not matter. For others, there is an added fascination to read a book about which so much shade has been thrown. Are there clues in its pages which can shed further light on the Winns’ real story?
Similarly, the fact that Winn had in fact written a book previously will only increase the intrigue: is she simply the victim of misfortune and the jealousy of others; or is she a complete Walter Mitty? If the latter, then The Salt Path would need to be read as something more than just an emotional memoir.
As for her first book, it will presumably now be hunted down, combed for further clues and become a collector’s item. Indeed, for a woman who has stood by the truth laid down in The Salt Path, the title of her actual debut offers additional intrigue: How Not to Dal Dy Dir, which means How Not to Stand Your Ground. The ground on which the Winns stand certainly seems shaky – but is all the more fascinating for it.
Hence then, the article about the salt path secret that has me hooked was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Salt Path secret that has me hooked )
Also on site :
- Kristen Stewart Tapped to Play '80s Feminist Icon
- Iranian football players celebrated in Tehran
- Russian oil supplies to India surge – media