News Oh Dear… This Doesn’t Look Good…

[AgentPete]

Her steely account of homelessness and hope in the face of adversity captivated more than two million readers worldwide and was adapted into a film released this year starring A-listers Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.
But it has now been claimed that Raynor Winn's account of losing her home before embarking on a mammoth trek of the South West Coast Path in her best-selling 2018 memoir, The Salt Path, may not be as 'unflinchingly honest' as initially billed - after allegations published today said she omitted key elements of her story.

This kind of thing has… happened surprisingly frequently in publishing. "Due diligence", guys!

And rather than being forced out of their home in rural Wales when an investment in a childhood friend's business went awry, as the book suggested, it is alleged that the property was repossessed after Winn stole tens of thousands of pounds from a former employer and was arrested.

Couple whose memoir inspired Salt Path film deny claims they misled

Her steely account of homelessness and hope in the face of adversity captivated more than two million readers worldwide and was adapted into a film with Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Wowsa. I'd better rewrite my query letter pretty fast.

Whether what this article says is true or not, I was never a fan. I just accepted that this book was popular for reasons I didn't get.

To be honest, I disliked her intensely after listening to her read the audiobook.
Her voice had a self-pitying slant that got on my last nerve.

But I assumed that reading it in hard copy was a different experience. And that, had I done so, I, too, would have felt the message of uplifting bravery that everyone else seemed to get from it.

The thing is, having been in a similar situation, I found her solutions to be weird. And selfish. And based on erroneous information about what kind of help was or wasn't available to them.

And her response to staying with friends while they sorted themselves out, for instance, seemed over-privileged and didn't hold water. Just because you don't feel comfortable doing it doesn't mean you "have no choice" but to do something else.
Yet she painted herself as the victim of the situation every single time.

And I think they made stupid choices, not brave ones.

If they really wanted a walking challenge, they could have done the Camino in Spain. The food would have been a quarter of the price, and the weather would have been kind to them (and especially to a sick husband) as they went into autumn and winter.
But no, they stayed in Britain, where it would rain A LOT. And food and camping costs a bloody fortune.

Plus, they'd blow £15 of their precious £42 a week living expenses on beer and chips. Fine. Do that. I mean, I've been in that situation and made different choices, but you do you. But then don't moan about having no money for food, and how terrible it is that you have nothing to eat. Start a JustGiving page or something.

Honestly, I could go on. But to hear they might have owned a holiday home in France all this time?

That can't be true, can it?

The bank would have taken that too, as one of their assets. And let's be fair, The Daily Mail isn't that into fact-checking either.

 

[E G Logan]

How do people imagine that if they put their story Out There, those who know it's not the 100% truth are going to keep quiet? All of them? For ever? When the back story is as grimy as that?

I believe I saw that Raynor Winn has a second book coming out...

 

[Vagabond Heart]

That'll be her fourth then?
Gotta say, beautiful covers.

 

[AgentPete]

The agent needs to carry a bit of the can for this (as I said above, due diligence…?)

It’s possible the publisher could demand repayment of the advance, and maybe (but not likely) compensation for future lost sales.

They key question – and I have no idea how this may play out – is will the readers actually care? Will they feel betrayed and lied to? Or will they just enjoy the book as faction/fiction, and keep on buying her next one(s)…?

Will be fascinating to see!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Sounds like a whole new film script....

 

[E G Logan]

That'll be her fourth then?

Sorry, haven't seen them. And, as you see here, I haven't counted them!

It will be interesting to see how the sales go, post-revelation. As a straw in the wind, I read that the author of the much-lauded (by some)Where The Crawdads Sing also has a dubious past, in another country – and it hasn't seemed to make the slightest difference to readers or the book-buying public.

 

[Sedayne]

Gotta say, beautiful covers.

I haven't read her books, but I do love the covers. The artist, Angela Harding, is a fantastic lino print maker specialising in British flora and fauna. I hope she doesn't get any associated fall-out.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Sorry, haven't seen them. And, as you see here, I haven't counted them!

It will be interesting to see how the sales go, post-revelation. As a straw in the wind, I read that the author of the much-lauded (by some)Where The Crawdads Sing also has a dubious past, in another country – and it hasn't seemed to make the slightest difference to readers or the book-buying public.

Yup. Quite a murky backstory to Where The Crawdads Sing. Worse when you consider some of the plot direction might be a clue to real events and culprits!

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

The agent needs to carry a bit of the can for this (as I said above, due diligence…?)

It’s possible the publisher could demand repayment of the advance, and maybe (but not likely) compensation for future lost sales.

They key question – and I have no idea how this may play out – is will the readers actually care? Will they feel betrayed and lied to? Or will they just enjoy the book as faction/fiction, and keep on buying her next one(s)…?

Will be fascinating to see!

I suspect the sales figures will initially rise as folks who haven't read the book have their curiosity piqued!

The charity for the illness he allegedly suffered has pulled their support (the progression of CBD is apparently much worse and quicker than portrayed), though they confirm they did receive the promised donations.

 

[AgentPete]

I suspect the sales figures will initially rise as folks who haven't read the book have their curiosity piqued!

Absolutely!
The timing is ever so slightly off for the movie, sadly for all concerned. I can just imagine the fraught interviews with cast… it’s still a heart-warming story, whether its true or not doesn’t matter…

It’s very spinnable

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Lawyers' pockets on all sides will be fattening up.

 

[BrianY]

This will sell books! (and movie tickets too)

 

[AgentPete]

The mail is all over it this morning:

The Salt Path author could be sued if she misled readers

EXCLUSIVE: Raynor Winn has been accused of fabricating, or misleading readers, about some parts of her best-selling book including her husband Moth's battle with a degenerative illness.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The Guardian too, saying:

Unhappily for The Salt Path movie, the controversy has arisen at a delicate, financially vulnerable point. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto film festival and has largely completed its theatrical run in the UK, as well as playing in cinemas in the Netherlands, Australia and South Africa. Unlike a studio film, independent productions have to sell themselves piece by piece across the world; crucially the film has not yet secured a North American cinema release. Less than a month ago, its sales agents appeared confident of striking a deal on the back of its healthy British box office returns; now it could well be seen as damaged goods.

So it will dent the US performance, for sure.

The Salt Path is a box office hit. Will its takings – and its Oscar hopes – now fall off a cliff?

The film adaptation of Winn’s book, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, quickly became the third most successful UK movie of the year. What happens now?

www.theguardian.com

Also, the US pub (Penguin too) will be damaged, this kind of thing hits even harder in the US market (perhaps oddly).
It could have been sold as fiction. But wouldn‘t have had the same commercial impact.

 

[Pamela Jo]

The mail is all over it this morning:

The Salt Path author could be sued if she misled readers

EXCLUSIVE: Raynor Winn has been accused of fabricating, or misleading readers, about some parts of her best-selling book including her husband Moth's battle with a degenerative illness.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The Guardian too, saying:

So it will dent the US performance, for sure.

The Salt Path is a box office hit. Will its takings – and its Oscar hopes – now fall off a cliff?

The film adaptation of Winn’s book, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, quickly became the third most successful UK movie of the year. What happens now?

www.theguardian.com

Also, the US pub (Penguin too) will be damaged, this kind of thing hits even harder in the US market (perhaps oddly).
It could have been sold as fiction. But wouldn‘t have had the same commercial impact.

The 'Eat Pray Love' author had some unfortunate realities intrude after the fact. The woman who wrote about doing all Julia Child's recipes for her husband when she was broke and out of work turned out to be into S and M and got divorced in a blaze of glory-but those things happened after the movies came out and the writers had banked the fame and profit.
The recent Gilmore Girls sequel (now. on Netflix) kidded the effect the book and movie "Wild " had on women going through a midlife crisis. The book and movie were THAT successful. So basically this is now a genre. The uncomfortable truth looks to be this woman took that template and arranged facts to fit.

I think readers of this genre will forgive the divorces, and not living happily ever after-but they demand the epiphanies be authentic. This is one genre that AI cannot do. Readers are going to feel betrayed, right Bev? You were right to feel queasy at her reading her own book when she was so bad at it. Shows a certain grifter lack of self-awareness.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Goodbye Oscars for Gillian and Jason! Most likely, goodbye huge North American deal. Could they and the production company sue on the grounds of probable estimated loss of income?

Pseudonyms: that doesn't bother me other than to ask is that an issue with memoirs? I suppose readers would like to know who the author genuinely is.

And I have to ask why? - Ok money, greed - but did they not predict these massive lies would unhood their ugly heads? I guess someone who would embezzle money in the first place has a very low moral compass. And obviously very little common sense.

 

[AgentPete]

Goodbye Oscars for Gillian and Jason! Most likely, goodbye huge North American deal. Could they and the production company sue on the grounds of probable estimated loss of income?

Yeah, they could.

The author will have given the usual warranty in the publishing contract that the book is what it purports to be, i.e. a true story. So the publisher might sue on the basis that they believed the warranty and it subsequent turned out to be untrue, causing them loss of income.

Whether they want to sue is an open question. First, is there actual money to be recovered – or has the author spent it all?

If the author has assets, the publisher still needs to decide whether going to court is worth it, in terms of costs (which might be recovered), executive time (considerable) and reputational damage (generally doesn’t look good to sue your authors, and stuff might be revealed in cross-examination you’d rather not be made public).

The publisher has today told The Bookseller that it had “not received any concerns about the book’s content” prior to the Observer recent investigation, a rather odd statement that might suggest they still (somewhat?) stand behind the book. But they also said “Penguin undertook all the necessary pre-publication due diligence, including a contract with an author warranty about factual accuracy, and a legal read, as is standard with most works of non-fiction” which might be construed as paving the way for legal action. So basically, watch this space.

And I have to ask why? - Ok money, greed - but did they not predict these massive lies would unhood their ugly heads? I guess someone who would embezzle money in the first place has a very low moral compass. And obviously very little common sense.

They apparently never do!

These cases are not terribly rare. And apparently the author always thinks they can get away with it.

However, the author said: “We are taking legal advice and won’t be making any further comments at this time … This is the true story of our journey.”

So let’s wait and see who sues who… some legal action of some form is likely.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Well, people have nicknames for their spouses, and author's can have a pen name if they want. I don't feel cheated by Sally and Tim not being as exotic as Raynor and Moth. I think a certain amount of poetic licence is expected, even in a memoir.

(In mine, for instance, I've amalgamated a couple of characters so that the reader didn't have sixty-two names to remember. But I fully intend to declare that in the credits at the start.)

However, it must be said that when I was about halfway through The Salt Path I did find myself thinking, "oh, here we go, we're at the point when the tension needs to increase, so stuff has to go wrong now."
And it did.
So, I assumed a bit of poetic licence had been employed.

But the issue here is not about twiddling things like that. There are bigger problems.

Had she not wanted to go into detail about the real reason their home was being repossessed she could have skirted around that. Been vaguer. Muttered about having made stupid mistakes in the past and now reaping the consequences.
But she outright declared their financial state was due to a certain issue, that appears, at the moment, to be entirely fictional.

And people do tend to whitewash their pasts, and justify their actions to themselves. "We had no choice" is a common mantra. And it crops up a lot in The Salt Path.

So when she says this is an accurate story of their journey, I'm sure she believes it. In her mind, they went from a difficult situation, to one where they became emotionally much closer, and learned to appreciate the benefits of the wild world around them.
To her, this is all true. And that is fair enough.
She probably sees the padding around that as irrelevant to the gist of the tale she was telling.

Trouble is, if you change the context, then the 'bravery' is not quite the same, is it?
She is not quite the victim of circumstance she led us all to believe.
And that's what fans of the book are getting mind-boggled about. (That, and the whole question of how serious Moth's illness really is?)

If she were to address the issue of having pulled the rug out from under them, then she might yet draw some sympathy.
My guess is she won't. People who are wedded to their roles as the victim in life rarely do.

 

[AgentPete]

But she outright declared their financial state was due to a certain issue, that appears, at the moment, to be entirely fictional.

Precisely.
I actually think that if she’d been absolutely open about whatever happened, it might have made a stronger story. Tho’ a harder initial sell to publishers. (But we need to wait a bit before coming to any final conclusions, of course).

Interesting that you had not-quite-right vibes about this book. Might turn out that your instincts were better than the original agents'

 

[Pamela Jo]

I had no interest in this film from the first trailer. I know Bev had mentioned the book but I had no real idea of the story. The trailer has them camping on the edge of some cliff in pouring awful English rain and the tent failing. Then the VoiceOver says he's dying of some kind of horrible disease. Say what? Anyone who has suffered through a family member dying from something incurable would recoil I think. The message being some kind of gruelling physical ordeal is going to cure said loved one instead of kill them faster- which brings the philosophy of what doesnt kill you makes you stronger to the status of snake oil. Sod that with bells on. But then I also hated 'Eat Pray Love.' My feeling there was don't be sending gormless Americans out to pester the 3rd world. They have enough troubles.
Bookseller:

[td]

Penguin says it 'undertook all the necessary pre-publication due diligence' on The Salt Path​

[/td]​

[td]

Penguin Michael Joseph has spoken about the recent allegations facing The Salt Path, saying it “undertook all the necessary pre-publication due diligence” and that “prior to the Observer enquiry, we had not received any concerns about the book’s content”. ​

[/td]​

 

[AgentPete]

Then the VoiceOver says he's dying of some kind of horrible disease. Say what? Anyone who has suffered through a family member dying from something incurable would recoil I think. The message being some kind of gruelling physical ordeal is going to cure said loved one instead of kill them faster- which brings the philosophy of what doesnt kill you makes you stronger to the status of snake oil.

Yep, got to agree.

There’s a piece in BookBrunch today that says much the same, altho I don’t see commissioning habits changing any time soon:

If you were to read about the condition ‘Moth’ in the book is said to have, corticobasal degeneration (CBD), which usually has a life expectancy of around six to eight years, and note the clinical opinion and experience of medical specialists - some of whom are quoted in The Observer - scepticism is the least you can offer. Extraordinary things can and do happen, but a reversal of a degenerative disease should give us pause. Misdiagnosis? I wondered, but as I read and researched, becoming increasingly upset and angry, one could see that it appeared a cure was achieved each time in the kindness of strangers, a long walk and putting up a tent in a stiff breeze. All of which serves to reinforce the notion that resilience is not just necessary, but also beautiful - providing it’s neatly packaged for consumption.

 

[Rich.]

There's an interesting discussion of all this on the latest episode of The Rest Is Entertainment podcast with Marina Hyde and Richard Osman, who is also published by Penguin Random House.

From the episode's YouTube blurb:

What is the truth and what do publishers or film studios do in cases like this?

Part way through their discussion, they discuss due diligence on the part of the publisher and the movie's production company, and that the author contract would have indemnified them against untruths (as Pete mentioned earlier in this thread).

It's worth a listen, I think.

 

[E G Logan]

murky backstory to Where The Crawdads Sing

As murky as it gets, in fact. And I was surprised she didn't have the criticism I was expecting when it was revealed, I think fairly upfront, though, that she wasn't born and raised in the setting's location. At the time, cultural appropriation was a Big Thing.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Here's another interesting piece regarding the very salty path, including comments by other memoirists.

MSN

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Well, that's me selling a memoir at the moment well and truly fucked, lol.
Better speed up on my other writing

 

[Pamela Jo]

Well, that's me selling a memoir at the moment well and truly fucked, lol.
Better speed up on my other writing

But yours is so much better. The readers are still there and they STILL want what they want.

 

[AgentPete]

This is the story that keeps on giving, at least from the Mail's pov. Lead story in today's paper. Including:

Winn yesterday admitted she has 'deep regret' over mistakes she made that led to the embezzlement allegation

Translation - I am deeply regretful I've been found out!

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

The book has appeared on the shelf at ASDA!

 

[AgentPete]

The book has appeared on the shelf at ASDA!

So it's true... No such thing as bad publicity!

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Did anyone else read that article, where she says they’d been ‘hard at work’ rewilding the place, and think, “right, so they haven’t done any gardening then”?