UK Outcry: “The Salt Path,” the Fake Memoirs That Deceived Everyone
“The Salt Path,” published in 2018, was a huge bestseller in the UK. In it, Raynor Winn recounts how she and her husband, having lost their home and discovered his illness, rebuilt their lives along a hiking trail. The problem, “The Observer” reveals in a notable investigation: much of the story is false.
Ray and Moth found redemption on a hiking trail. The couple at the heart of The Salt Path (unpublished in French) told their story through the pen of Raynor Winn (aka Ray), recalls The Observer . “A heartbreaking 'true' story of two fifty-somethings who lose their country house in Wales and suddenly learn that Moth is suffering from a terminal illness, The Salt Path shot to the top of the bestseller list and has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide since its release in 2018.”
The reader discovers the couple's resilience, the social stigma they endured, and the gestures of solidarity from strangers as they lived in the wild while hiking the entire distance of a famous Welsh trail, a "journey of more than 1,000 kilometers along the South West Coast Path."
The success was such that the book was adapted for film by British director Marianne Elliott, starring Gillian Andersson and Jason Isaacs. The film, which has not yet been released in France, was released in May in the UK, as well as in several other countries.
But, as the weekly The Observer reveals, many points in the story have been embellished – or even purely invented –
Courrier International
