Speaker 1: From the Australian. This is the weekend edition of The Front.
Speaker 1: I'm Claire Harvey. The Salt Path, a best selling memoir
Speaker 1: by Rayna Winn, seems to be following what's becoming a
Speaker 1: predictable trajectory. Faced with adversity, a protagonist embarks on an
Speaker 1: epic quest, finding meaning on the way. The resulting memoir
Speaker 1: is inspiring and labeled unflinchingly honest. Copies fly off the shells.
Speaker 1: The manuscript is optioned and turned into a hit movie,
Speaker 1: this one starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. But similar
Speaker 1: to James Fray's A Million Little Pieces, a memoir about
Speaker 1: drug and alcohol addiction, which had to be reclassified as
Speaker 1: semi fiction after various exaggerations and fabrications were uncovered, and
Speaker 1: Belle Gibson's The Whole Pantry, a cancer miracle cure cookbook
Speaker 1: written by A Kancas who never had cancer. The Saltpath's
Speaker 1: authenticity has now been called into question after an investigation
Speaker 1: published this week by the Observer. The author, Rayna Winn
Speaker 1: is strongly denying The Observer's allegations, and you'll hear more
Speaker 1: from her soon, joining me to unpack the saga is
Speaker 1: Tim Douglas, in house expert on all things cultural and
Speaker 1: editor of review published in the weekend edition of The Australian.
Speaker 1: The Salt Path starts with the author, Rayna Wynn and
Speaker 1: her husband Moth losing it all after an investment with
Speaker 1: their friend goes south, homeless and destitute. The hits keep
Speaker 1: coming for this middle aged couple.
Speaker 2: We also house, We lost our livelihood, and a few
Speaker 2: days later my husband of thirty two years received a
Speaker 2: terminal diagnosis an we gosto future.
Speaker 1: The diagnosis is for cordico basal degeneration, a rare and
Speaker 1: degenerative brain disease with similarities to Parkinson's. With nothing to lose,
Speaker 1: the couple embark on a thousand kilometer walk along the
Speaker 1: southwest Coast path of Britain.
Speaker 2: It became more than just a walk for us. It
Speaker 2: became something that saved us.
Speaker 1: Only this week, a widow named Ross Hemmings has detailed
Speaker 1: in The Observer a very different sequence of events. Hemmings
Speaker 1: alleges that Winn, whom she knew by her legal name
Speaker 1: Sally Walker, had embezzled money from her late husband Martin
Speaker 1: while working as his bookkeeper. The initial sum was thought
Speaker 1: to be around nine thousand pounds. Winn pleaded for forgiveness,
Speaker 1: according to Roz, and assured her employer the money would
Speaker 1: be repaid only soon after it was established the missing
Speaker 1: sum was much higher, like close to sixty thousand pounds higher.
Speaker 1: Here's what Roz Hemmings told the Observer newspaper in Britain.
Speaker 1: She's made a lot of money out of ruining my
Speaker 1: family's life. Allegedly, Winn was arrested in questioned, but flew
Speaker 1: the coup before further action could be taken. Then, a
Speaker 1: distant relative of Wynn's husband, Tim also known as Morth,
Speaker 1: bailed the couple out with a one hundred thousand pound
Speaker 1: loan and in return, the Hemmings's agreed to drop the
Speaker 1: matter and sign a non disclosure agreement. Then, reportedly the
Speaker 1: loan was called in and that's how they lost the house.
Speaker 1: Hardly a business venture gone south. Here's part of a
Speaker 1: statement raynal Wynn has released. She's denying any wrongdoing. We've
Speaker 1: included in the show notes a link to her full statement,
Speaker 1: and we're including some of it here too. But it's
Speaker 1: fair to say she has a detailed response to what
Speaker 1: The Observer has reported We've used an AI voice to
Speaker 1: read the statement, and you'll hear more of Rain and
Speaker 1: Ween's responses throughout this episode.
Speaker 3: The Observer article is grotesquely unfair, highly misleading, and seeks
Speaker 3: to systematically pick apart my life. But as our walk
Speaker 3: along the Salt Path taught us, when life has ground
Speaker 3: you into the dirt, you need to stand up, turn
Speaker 3: your face to the wind, and continue unafraid. So that
Speaker 3: is what I must do. I worked for Martin Hemmings
Speaker 3: in the years before the economic crash of two thousand
Speaker 3: and eight. For me, it was a pressured time. It
Speaker 3: was also a time when mistakes were being made in
Speaker 3: the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in
Speaker 3: that office I deeply regret and I am truly sorry.
Speaker 3: Mister Hemmings made an allegation against me to the police,
Speaker 3: accusing me of taking money from the company. I was questioned.
Speaker 3: I was not charged, nor did I face criminal sanctions.
Speaker 3: I reached a settlement with Martin Hemmings because I did
Speaker 3: not have the evidence required to support what happened.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the decisions that have been made up
Speaker 1: until this point. Penguin Random House would have given this
Speaker 1: woman an advance to write this book, and how to
Speaker 1: sign a contract in which presumably she would have given
Speaker 1: an undertaking that it was true. This is not the
Speaker 1: only literary scandal that's around at the moment, But but once
Speaker 1: a year we hear that a best selling book is
Speaker 1: based on an untruth or that there might be some
Speaker 1: doubt about its origins. Do you think it matters for
Speaker 1: the publishing house? They're now getting a huge amount of
Speaker 1: publicity out of it.
Speaker 4: Those books are sold, so it's already sold two million
Speaker 4: books and counting. Whether this will harm that is another story.
Speaker 4: So I think that it's an interesting question about whether
Speaker 4: it matters. It's a really philosophical one. I mean, in
Speaker 4: this country, of course, we've got Helen Dennadenko and Miles
Speaker 4: Franklin winning the handsign the paper, and we have the
Speaker 4: normal curity scandal of course that broke. We've got Bell
Speaker 4: Gibson too, and there are shades of that with this
Speaker 4: story also. So I think her subsequent books will be
Speaker 4: harm She's got a book coming out in a month
Speaker 4: or two, I believe.
Speaker 5: But I think the film side of it is really interesting.
Speaker 4: It had kind of a muted release here, opened in May,
Speaker 4: took four hundred thousand on the opening weekend. But in
Speaker 4: the UK it's massive. It's the third biggest film of
Speaker 4: the year there already, it's taken almost eight million pounds
Speaker 4: at the box office. It is yet to secure a
Speaker 4: North American release, and I think it is an independent film,
Speaker 4: so independent films have a slow burn. So this was
Speaker 4: released last year at Toronto Film Festival in September, got
Speaker 4: a lot of recognition there, then had a release in
Speaker 4: the UK and Australia simultaneously. But the producers bank on
Speaker 4: word of mouth from a big kind of UK release
Speaker 4: to secure those theaters in the US to really make
Speaker 4: their money back. Now, if social media is any indication,
Speaker 4: I think that looks increasingly unlikely that major cinemas would
Speaker 4: take a gamble on that.
Speaker 5: They also wait for the streaming.
Speaker 4: Rights to roll out. Will anyone want to watch this
Speaker 4: on a streaming platform? If these allegations prove to be true,
Speaker 4: It's an interesting question.
Speaker 1: What do you think is the responsibility of publishers and
Speaker 1: film houses when they're buying a story like this. Obviously
Speaker 1: there's a commercial consideration, but is there also an ethical
Speaker 1: question here, particularly when it relates to something medical?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean there is.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think as journalists we find it difficult
Speaker 4: to understand how a publishing house might not perform due
Speaker 4: diligence and get across that story and say, Okay, this
Speaker 4: isn't your real name. This didn't actually happen. I mean,
Speaker 4: one would have thought that there are people employed to
Speaker 4: perhaps you know, tract.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, when you're signing a legal contract with someone,
Speaker 1: surely you would be asking to see a driver's license
Speaker 1: at least.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: Rain and Winn responded with this, let me explain my names.
Speaker 3: Win is my maiden name, and like most women who
Speaker 3: have married, I've used both my maiden name Win and
Speaker 3: married name Walker. In the early years after Math and
Speaker 3: I met, I told him I disliked my name Sally Ann.
Speaker 3: It made me think of ringlets and Gingham dresses and
Speaker 3: how I wished I'd been given the family name of Raynor.
Speaker 3: From then on, he called me ray It is the
Speaker 3: name many people who are close to me have known
Speaker 3: me by, and the name I love and chose as
Speaker 3: my pen name, Moth is just an abbreviation of his name, Timothy.
Speaker 4: I think the medical issue is a different concern, because,
Speaker 4: of course it's patient doctor confidentiality. And there are from
Speaker 4: one of the better term, miraculous things that happen in
Speaker 4: terms of health, whether that is becoming a terminal, very rare,
Speaker 4: serious neurological condition by going out for a stroll is.
Speaker 5: A Is that the issue?
Speaker 3: Here's what Rhina Wein said about that among the Observer's
Speaker 3: many accusations, the most heartbreaking is the suggestion that Moth
Speaker 3: has made up his illness. This utterly vile, unfair, and
Speaker 3: false suggestion has emotionally dev stated Moth, who has fought
Speaker 3: so hard against the insidious condition of cortico basil syndrome.
Speaker 3: I have never sought to offer medical advice in my
Speaker 3: books or suggests that walking might be some sort of
Speaker 3: miracle cure for CBS. I am simply charting Moth's own
Speaker 3: personal journey and battle with his illness and what has
Speaker 3: helped him. We will always be grateful that Moth's version
Speaker 3: of CBS is indolent. Its slow progression has allowed us
Speaker 3: time to discover how walking helps him. Others aren't so lucky.
Speaker 1: Publishing has survived against all the odds. Probably twenty years
Speaker 1: ago there were predictions that publishing would die, but it's
Speaker 1: books like beasts that have kept publishing, isn't it. Memoir
Speaker 1: has been a big part of along with romanticy, of
Speaker 1: why people are still buying books in paper discussing them
Speaker 1: in book clubs. Do you think in the age of
Speaker 1: social media, where publishing houses are very quick to leap
Speaker 1: on something that's big on TikTok, that there's a diminution
Speaker 1: of the checks and balances that they once would have
Speaker 1: gone through. They've lost a bit of their power.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they may have done that.
Speaker 4: I mean, you're right, memoir is huge, and you know,
Speaker 4: I'm waiting for yours to come out, actually, because I
Speaker 4: think people would be quite interested, to be honest, I
Speaker 4: expect to people in publishing all the time and they're
Speaker 4: always looking for.
Speaker 5: That new story.
Speaker 4: I feel like this one was apparently the author wrote
Speaker 4: the book.
Speaker 5: Just for a husband. I mean, what do we believe anymore?
Speaker 4: But it didn't intend for really to become a published
Speaker 4: book or let alone a publishing phenomenon. But yeah, I
Speaker 4: think it's interesting in the world of social media and
Speaker 4: selfie culture and generation me that those personal stories, embellished
Speaker 4: as they may be, are so interesting to people.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about where the story goes after the loss
Speaker 1: of the house and the diagnosis. In the book, they
Speaker 1: set out on one of these walks that middle aged
Speaker 1: people seem to be doing a lot now and what
Speaker 1: happens on the course of that walk in the book, Well.
Speaker 5: I read the book. There was a lot of whining
Speaker 5: that happened in it. I've found really hard going.
Speaker 4: Maybe I'm the only one, but basically they realized that
Speaker 4: the pension they're going to get from the government isn't
Speaker 4: enough to really keep them alive, so they beg borrow
Speaker 4: and steal and steal in some cases from small business owners,
Speaker 4: and you know, they meet other people along the path,
Speaker 4: but invariably I found there's this really insufferable tone from
Speaker 4: the author of the book about how they were doing
Speaker 4: it the only righteous way, and that other people on
Speaker 4: the path are always rude to them, and no one
Speaker 4: could believe that they could possibly do this walk.
Speaker 5: And it's a good walk. I mean six hundred and
Speaker 5: thirty miles.
Speaker 4: I think it's onenty twelve kilometers from Somerset to Dorset,
Speaker 4: so it's a big effort. But I found some of
Speaker 4: the writing quite difficult.
Speaker 1: Going more of my chat with Tim Douglas after the
Speaker 1: Break it's meant to be uplifting, obviously, and that's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why this book went viral. It was
Speaker 1: a story of triumph over adversity. These people took their situation,
Speaker 1: which was basically being homeless, and turned it into an adventure.
Speaker 1: That's a new genre in publishing, isn't it. We used
Speaker 1: to have misery memoirs. Now we have middle aged people
Speaker 1: where something bad happens and then they.
Speaker 5: Go for more. Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 4: My wife or her friend's fortieth just did the Santiago
Speaker 4: to Compostella Walk because one hundred and sixty kilometer walk
Speaker 4: as part of the Camino de Santiago Walk. A friend
Speaker 4: of hers, at a dinner party maybe three or four
Speaker 4: weeks ago, said, you have to read this book.
Speaker 5: I hadn't seen the film.
Speaker 4: I still haven't seen it, but he said, you have
Speaker 4: to read this book because it's just so uplifting. It's amazing,
Speaker 4: You've got to do this walk, and so, Yeah, people
Speaker 4: in their forties and fifties are now, you know, really
Speaker 4: embarking on these kind of journeys trying to stay far.
Speaker 4: But you're right, it's a new genre, and look, it's
Speaker 4: worked for Raynal Winns. She's had three subsequent book deals
Speaker 4: out of it, all of which detail her husband Moths
Speaker 4: overcoming this horrible disease with which he has lived for
Speaker 4: eighteen years, apparently.
Speaker 1: And that's the other part of the story with which
Speaker 1: the Observer has raised questions, isn't it because neurologists who
Speaker 1: are specialists in this particular disease are saying nobody lives
Speaker 1: for eighteen years, and certainly nobody lives in what appears
Speaker 1: to be quite good.
Speaker 4: Health exactly, and not just good health, but doing the
Speaker 4: equivalent of as it says in the book for Summits
Speaker 4: of Everest on this walk. I mean, these people are
Speaker 4: in good nick.
Speaker 1: There was obviously something about this book that had your
Speaker 1: spidy senses tingling when you were reading it. Do you
Speaker 1: feel justified now in your hatred of it as a
Speaker 1: piece of literature? And doesn't mean you don't have to
Speaker 1: go on one of these epic walks?
Speaker 4: Well, okay, two things. It means I don't have to
Speaker 4: watch the film, which I've managed to avoid doing.
Speaker 5: I didn't hate it. I just found the Tony sufferable.
Speaker 4: And you know this kind of inverse noobbery of being
Speaker 4: out on the trail and all these people with their flashbackpacks.
Speaker 5: We're doing it the right way.
Speaker 4: You know, no one believed we could do it, and
Speaker 4: all these serendipitous coincidences that I just found a little
Speaker 4: bit darling. As for the walk, my wife wants to
Speaker 4: do the Camino Way from Santiago to Compostella. I'm one
Speaker 4: hundred percent in it's eight hundred ks. I just need
Speaker 4: to convince the editor in chief to let me have
Speaker 4: eight weeks off work fully paid.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you could be writing a book about it.
Speaker 5: I'm not sure anyone would want to read that.
Speaker 1: Tim Douglas is the editor of Review. You can check
Speaker 1: it out by picking up a copy of the Weekend
Speaker 1: Australian or going to the Australian dot com dot auslash
Speaker 1: Review anytime. This episode of the Front was hosted by
Speaker 1: met Claire Harvey and produced by Jasper Leek, who edited
Speaker 1: the episode and also wrote our theme. Thanks for joining
Speaker 1: us on the Front this week. Our team also includes
Speaker 1: Christian amyot Leat, Sammaglu, Tiffany Dimac, Joshua Burton and Stephanie Coombs.