Report: Parts of Hit Memoir Were Fabricated

Raynor Winn, author of the best-selling memoir The Salt Path is facing allegations she fabricated key parts of her story. The memoir, which recounts how Winn and her husband, Moth, trekked the 630-mile South West Coast Path after losing their home and confronting his terminal diagnosis, inspired both critical acclaim and a recent film adaptation. However, an investigation by the Observer has raised questions about the truthfulness of Winn's account. The film, which stars Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, has been a big hit in the UK this summer but it might now struggle to find a distributor in the US, the AP reports.

According to the Observer, Winn—whose legal name is Sally Walker—took approximately $86,000 from her former employer while working as a bookkeeper, which allegedly led to financial trouble and her arrest. The memoir, published in 2018, describes the couple's home being repossessed after a failed investment with a friend, but the Observer contends their house was seized due to a defaulted loan used to cover the missing funds. The investigation also points out that the Walkers purchased a home in France in 2007, challenging their depiction of being entirely homeless.

Doubts have also surfaced regarding Moth Winn's diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration, known as CBD or CBS, the Guardian reports. The Observer said it spoke to medical experts who have questioned whether someone could live with the condition for as long as Moth Winn (legal name Tim Walker, per the Observer) reportedly has and were "skeptical about ... his lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them." The health charity PSPA has cut its ties with the couple.

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Winn maintains that her memoir is a genuine account of their journey, calling the Observer's article "highly misleading" and stating she is seeking legal advice. In a statement published on her website Wednesday, she presented some of her husband's medical records and said the property they own in France is an "uninhabitable ruin in a bramble patch." She did not deny the embezzlement allegations, but said the terms of a settlement "were willingly agreed by both parties" and it wasn't what led to them losing their home, the BBC reports.