Raynor Winn, the author of The Salt Path, has described enduring some of the “hardest days” of her life as she defended her memoir against allegations that parts of it were fabricated.
The bestselling 2018 book, which was adapted into a film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, tells how she and her husband, Moth, walked the 630-mile trek along the south-west coast path in the UK after losing their home.
It also recounts how Moth was diagnosed with a neurological condition.
But the Observer newspaper, which said the couple’s legal names are Sally and Timothy Walker, reported last weekend that Winn may have misrepresented the events that led to the couple losing their home and that experts had cast doubt over Moth having corticobasal degeneration (CBD).
On Wednesday, Winn posted clinic letters on Instagram addressed to Timothy Walker, which she said showed that “he is treated for CBD/S and has been for many years”.
She wrote: “The last few days have been some of the hardest of my life. Heartbreaking accusations that Moth has made up his illness have been made, leaving us devastated.”
In a statement on her website, she said that the article was “grotesquely unfair, highly misleading and seeks to systematically pick apart my life”.
Winn, 63, continued: “The Salt Path is about what happened to Moth and me, after we lost our home and found ourselves homeless on the headlands of the south-west.
“It’s not about every event or moment in our lives, but rather about a capsule of time when our lives moved from a place of complete despair to a place of hope.
“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.”
In The Salt Path, the couple lose their house due to a bad business investment. But the Observer reported that the couple lost their home after an accusation that Winn had stolen thousands of pounds from her employer.
It also said that it had spoken to medical experts who were sceptical about Moth having CBD, given his lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them.
Winn’s publishing house, Penguin, said it “undertook all the necessary pre-publication due diligence”, including a contract with an author warranty about factual accuracy, and a legal read.
It added: “Prior to the Observer inquiry, we had not received any concerns about the book’s content.”
PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), said it had “terminated” its relationship with the couple after the Observer article.
Winn had been scheduled to make numerous appearances this summer, performing with Saltlines, her collaboration with Gigspanner Big Band. However, the band subsequently announced on social media that she will no longer be taking part in the tour.
