Writer Raynor Winn defends herself towards claims she misled readers

Writer Raynor Winn has been accused of fabricating or giving deceptive details about some parts of her best-selling ebook The Salt Path.

The 2018 ebook, and up to date movie adaptation, instructed the story of a pair who determine to stroll the 630-mile South West Coast Path after their house is repossessed.

An investigation by the Observer advised a few of Winn’s claims about her husband’s sickness and the occasions that led to the couple shedding their house have been misrepresented.

Winn has described the Observer’s article as “extremely deceptive” and stated the couple are taking authorized recommendation, including that the ebook was “the true story of our journey”.

Here is what we all know to this point:

The Salt Path has offered greater than two million copies since its publication in March 2018, and a movie adaptation starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs was launched earlier this 12 months.

Within the ebook, Winn stated she and her husband Moth misplaced a considerable sum of cash after making a nasty funding in a pal’s enterprise, which left them accountable for his money owed when the corporate failed. She stated it in the end led to the couple shedding their house.

Across the similar time, Winn wrote, Moth was recognized with corticobasal degeneration (CBD), which normally has a life expectancy of round six to eight years.

Winn stated after she and Moth turned homeless and Moth was recognized with CBD, the couple determined in 2013 to set off on the South West Coast Path.

The ebook paperwork the pair ultimately strolling the complete 630-mile route, residing off a small sum of money in weekly tax credit every week, and wild tenting each night time.

It describes the bodily exhaustion but additionally rewarding nature of the stroll, in addition to their interactions with members of the general public alongside the best way.

The ebook ends with the couple getting a recent begin with the provide of latest lodging. On account of the stroll, Winn says her husband’s well being improved, and he has now lived for 12 years because the analysis.

Winn has written two additional books since The Salt Path – each of which additionally deal with themes of strolling, nature, homelessness and wild tenting – and has a fourth as a consequence of be revealed later this 12 months.

The investigation claims the couple misplaced their house in North Wales after Winn defrauded her employer of £64,000, and never in a nasty enterprise deal as she initially advised.

The couple reportedly borrowed £100,000 with 18% curiosity, secured towards their home, from a distant relative, with a view to repay the cash she had been accused of stealing.

The Observer stated the couple additionally had a £230,000 mortgage on the identical property, which means that their mixed money owed exceeded the worth of the home.

The couple’s house was then reportedly repossessed after they have been sued to get better the cash that they had borrowed.

The Observer added the couple owned a home in France. Nevertheless, it additionally stated the property had been in an uninhabitable state for a while, and that villagers stated the couple by no means stayed in the home however would keep in caravans on the land.

The newspaper additionally stated it had spoken to medical consultants who have been sceptical about Moth having CBD, given his lengthy survival after analysis, lack of acute signs and his obvious capacity to reverse them.

It additionally studies that Raynor and Moth Winn aren’t the couple’s actual names.

After the Observer’s article was revealed, the charity PSPA, which helps folks with CBD and has labored with Raynor and Moth Winn, stated “too many questions at present stay unanswered” and that it had “made the choice to terminate our relationship with the household”.

Winn has additionally withdrawn from the forthcoming Saltlines tour, which might have seen her carry out readings alongside Gigspanner Massive Band throughout a string of UK dates.

An announcement from Winn’s authorized staff stated the writer was “deeply sorry to let down those that have been planning to attend the Saltlines tour, however whereas this course of is ongoing, she can be unable to participate”.

In an announcement launched through literary brokers Graham Maw Christie, Winn stated: “Right this moment’s Observer article is very deceptive.

“We’re taking authorized recommendation and will not be making any additional remark at the moment.”

The assertion continued: “The Salt Path lays naked the bodily and religious journey Moth and I shared, an expertise that reworked us utterly and altered the course of our lives.

“That is the true story of our journey.”

The BBC has additionally contacted Penguin, who revealed the ebook, for remark.

A spokeswoman for Quantity 9 Movies and Shadowplay Options, who made the display adaptation, stated in an announcement to Hollywood commerce publication Deadline: “There have been no identified claims towards the ebook on the time of optioning it or producing and distributing the movie.”

Their assertion known as the film “a trustworthy adaptation of the ebook that we optioned”, including, “we undertook all needed due diligence earlier than buying the ebook”.

“The allegations made in The Observer relate to the ebook and are a matter for the writer Raynor Winn,” it concluded. “Now we have handed any correspondence referring to the article to Raynor and her agent.”

The movie’s stars Anderson and Isaacs, have additionally been contacted for a response. BBC Movie, which additionally helped finance and government produce the film, declined to remark.

The movie adaptation has taken round $16m (£11.7m) on the field workplace worldwide. The film is but to launch in Germany and France, whereas a deal is reportedly nonetheless pending within the US, in response to Deadline.