When The Observer released its investigation into The Salt Path, it shocked book lovers worldwide. According to original reporting by journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou, it appeared that author Raynor Winn had lied about – or omitted – many serious aspects of her life story.
The Salt Path, released as a book in 2018 and a film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in 2024, details how Raynor and her husband Moth, lost their house after a friend invested their money poorly. It charts their fall into homelessness and the long walk that miraculously eased symptoms of Moth’s rare, terminal neurological disease (corticobasal degeneration or CBD). But the investigation put this whole narrative into question. It was alleged that Raynor had stolen large amounts of money from her place of work, gone into hiding, lost the house after borrowing around £100,000 from a family member, and owned land in France where she and her husband could have lived.
