'The Salt Path' is a book that captured the hearts of millions. Now it's mired in controversy
But now, the book and the film are mired in a controversy that could see them suffer that very modern phenomenon - being canceled.
On Friday, publisher Penguin Michael Joseph agreed with author Raynor Winn to delay the publication of her next book, "On Winter Hill" from this October after "intrusive conjecture' about her husband's health.
The delay is the latest blowback from a bombshell report in Sunday's The Observer newspaper in the United Kingdom that claimed there was more to the 2018 book than met the eye - that key elements of the story had been fabricated.
Author Raynor Winn stands accused of betraying the trust of her readers and of reaping a windfall on the back of lies. Winn accepts "mistakes' were made, but that the overarching allegations were "highly misleading.' She has sought legal counsel.
Winn's book tells how she and her husband of 32 years, Moth Winn - a well-to-do couple - made the impulsive decision to walk the rugged 630 miles (around 1,000 kilometers) of the South West Coast Path in the southwest of England after losing their house because of a bad business investment.
Broke and homeless, the memoir relays how the couple achieved spiritual renewal during their trek, which lasted several months and which saw them carry essentials and a tent on their back.
The book also recounts how Moth Winn was diagnosed with the extremely rare and incurable neurological condition, corticobasal degeneration, or CBD, and how his symptoms had abated following the walk.
It sold 2 million copies, became a regular read at book clubs, spawned two sequels and the film adaptation, which was released this spring, to generally positive reviews.
On its website, publisher Penguin described the book as "an unflinchingly honest, inspiring and life-affirming true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world. Ultimately, it is a portrayal of home, and how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.'
That statement was released before the controversy that erupted last Sunday.
In a wide-ranging investigation, The Observer said that it found a series of fabrications in Raynor Winn's tale. It said the couple's legal names are Sally and Timothy Walker, and that Winn misrepresented the events that led to the couple losing their home.
The newspaper said that the couple lost their home following accusations that Winn had stolen tens of thousands of pounds from her employer. It also said that the couple had owned a house in France since 2007, meaning that they weren't homeless.
And perhaps more damaging, the newspaper said that it had spoken to medical experts who were skeptical about Moth having CBD, given his lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them.
The book's ability to engender empathy from its readers relied on their personal circumstances. Without those hooks, it's a very different tale.
As a writer of what was represented as a true story, Winn had to attest to her publisher that the book was a fair and honest reflection of what transpired.
Any memoir may have omissions or hazy recollections.
But making things up is a clear no-no.
In the immediate aftermath, Winn made a brief comment on her website about the "highly misleading' accusations and insisted that the book "lays bare the physical and spiritual journey Moth and I shared, an experience that transformed us completely and altered the course of our lives. This is the true story of our journey.'
She fleshed out her response on Wednesday, describing the previous few days have been "some of the hardest of my life,' while acknowledging "mistakes' in her business career.
She also linked documents appearing to show Moth had been diagnosed with CBD, and described how the accusations that Moth made up his illness have left them "devastated.'
After the allegations were published, Penguin said it undertook "the necessary pre-publication due diligence,' and that prior to The Observer story, it hadn't received any concerns about the book's content.
It'll be interesting to see how the book's sales and the film's box office receipts are affected by the controversy. Those should start emerging in the coming days.
In addition, there are questions now as to whether the film will find a U.S. distributor and whether Winn, in particular, will face compensation claims, potentially even from readers.
Winn was meant to be in the western England town of Shrewsbury on Friday on the Saltlines tour, a "words and music collaboration' between her and folk band The Gigspanner Big Band.
Her legal team said that Winn is "deeply sorry to let down those who were planning to attend the Saltlines tour, but while this process is ongoing, she will be unable to take part.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
Jane's Addiction bandmates sue each other over onstage fight
LOS ANGELES, July 17, (AP): The members of alternative rock band Jane's Addiction filed dueling lawsuits Wednesday over singer Perry Farrell's onstage scuffle with guitarist Dave Navarro at a Boston concert last year, prompting the cancellation of the rest of their reunion tour and a planned album. Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery sued Farrell in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking at least $10 million, alleging that Farrell's behavior on the tour had ranged from erratic to out-of-control, culminating in the assault, where Farrell punched Navarro both on stage and backstage. "With a series of swift blows, he single-handedly destroyed the name, reputation, trademark, and viability of the Band and those who built it,' their lawsuit says. Farrell and his wife, Etty Lau Farrell, sued the three bandmates in the same court Wednesday, blaming them for the conflict and the violence. "Navarro, Avery and Perkins apparently decided,' the lawsuit says, "that Jane's Addiction's decades of success should be jettisoned in pursuit of a yearslong bullying campaign against Farrell involving harassing him onstage during performances, including, among other tactics, trying to undermine him by playing their instruments at a high volume so that he could not hear himself sing.' The Farrells said that Navarro and Avery actually assaulted them. Perry Farrell said he was "blindsided' when the other members canceled the remaining 15 shows of the tour and broke up the band without consulting him, costing all of them a great deal of money. And he said his bandmates defamed him by publicly saying after the fight that he had mental health problems. Jane's Addiction was an essential part of the Los Angeles music scene in the late 1980s with their combination of elements of punk, goth and psychedelic sounds and culture. They became a national phenomenon with hits including "Jane Says' and "Been Caught Stealing,' and through their founding of the Lollapalooza tour, whose first incarnations they headlined in 1991. The group broke up soon after but returned several times in various incarnations. The 2024 tour was the first time the original members had played together since 2010. Farrell missed all seven of the group's rehearsals in the run-up to the tour, his bandmate's lawsuit alleges, and his behavior during the early shows ranged from erratic to out-of-control. "He struggled night to night amid public concern for his well-being and apparent intoxication,' their lawsuit says. "Perry forgot lyrics, lost his place in songs he had sung since the 1980s, and mumbled rants as he drank from a wine bottle onstage.' The lawsuit says Farrell was given many solutions to the volume problem, none of which he followed. Then on Sept. 13 at Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston in front of about 4,000 fans, videos partially captured Farrell lunging at Navarro and bumping Navarro with his shoulder before taking a swing at the guitarist with his right arm. Navarro is seen holding his right arm out to keep Farrell away before Farrell is dragged away. But Farrell's lawsuit says the "video evidence is clear that the first altercation onstage during the Boston show was hardly one-sided.' It says Navarro was deliberately playing loud to drown out the singer, and "what followed was an inappropriate violent escalation by Navarro and Avery that was disproportionate to Farrell's minor body check of Navarro." Farrell alleges that when he was being restrained by a crew member, Avery punched him in the kidneys, and that both Avery and Navarro assaulted him and his wife backstage. Shortly after the fight, Farrell in a statement apologized to his bandmates, especially Navarro, for "inexcusable behavior.' Both lawsuits allege assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract, among other claims. "Now,' Navarro, Perkins and Avery's lawsuit says, "the Band will never have their revival Tour, to celebrate a new album and 40+ years of deep, complex, chart-topping recordings. Instead, history will remember the Band as suffering a swift and painful death at the hands of Farrell's unprovoked anger and complete lack of self-control."
Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
Connie Francis, ‘Who's Sorry Now?' singer, dies at 87
LOS ANGELES, July 17, (AP): Connie Francis, the wholesome pop star of the 1950s and '60s whose hits include "Pretty Little Baby' and "Who's Sorry Now?' - the latter that would later serve as an ironic title for a personal life filled with heartbreak and tragedy - has died at age 87. Her death was announced Thursday by her friend and publicist, Ron Roberts, who did not immediately provide additional details. Francis was a top performer of the pre-Beatles era, rarely off the charts from 1957-64. Able to appeal to both young people and adults, she had more than a dozen Top 20 hits, starting with "Who's Sorry Now?' and including the No. 1 songs "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You' and "The Heart Has a Mind of Its Own.' Like other teen favorites of her time, she also starred in several films, including "Where the Boys Are' and "Follow the Boys.' The dark-haired singer was just 17 when she signed a contract with MGM Records following appearances on several TV variety shows. Her earliest recordings attracted little attention, but then she released her version of "Who's Sorry Now?' an old ballad by Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. It, too, had little success initially until Dick Clark played it on his "American Bandstand' show in 1958. Clark featured her repeatedly on "American Bandstand,' and she said in later years that without his support, she would have abandoned her music career. Francis followed with such teen hits as "Stupid Cupid,' "Everybody's Somebody's Fool' and "Lipstick on Your Collar.' Her records became hits worldwide as she re-recorded versions of her original songs in Italian and Spanish, among other languages. Her concerts around the country quickly sold out. Meanwhile, a romance bloomed with fellow teen idol Bobby Darin, who had volunteered to write songs for her. But when her father heard rumors that the pair was planning a wedding, he stormed into a rehearsal and pulled a gun on Darin, ending their relationship and seeming to set Francis on a pained and traumatic path. She chronicled some of it in her autobiography, "Who's Sorry Now?' "My personal life is a regret from A to Z,' she told The Associated Press in 1984, the year the book came out. "I realized I had allowed my father to exert too much influence over me.' Her father, George Franconero, was a roofing contractor from New Jersey who played the accordion. She was just 3 when her father presented her with a child-size accordion, as soon as she began to show an aptitude for music. When she was 4, he began booking singing dates for her, going on to become her manager. Although her acting career had faded by the mid-1960s, Francis was still popular on the concert circuit when she appeared at the Westbury Music Center in Westbury, New York, in 1974. She had returned to her hotel room and was asleep when a man broke in and raped her at knifepoint. He was never captured. Francis sued the hotel, alleging its security was faulty, and a jury awarded her $2.5 million in 1976. The two sides then settled out of court for $1,475,000 as an appeal was pending. She said the attack destroyed her marriage and put her through years of emotional turmoil. She suffered tragedy in 1981 when her brother George was shot to death as he was leaving his New Jersey home. Later that decade, her father had her committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she was diagnosed as manic-depressive. At one point she attempted suicide by swallowing dozens of sleeping tablets. After three days in a coma, she recovered. She was married four times and would say that only her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, was worth the trouble. The other marriages each lasted less than a year. Concetta Rosemarie Franconero was born on Dec. 12, 1937, in Newark, New Jersey. At age 9 she began appearing on television programs, including "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts' and "The Perry Como Show.' It was Godfrey who suggested she shorten her last name. Francis experienced a resurgence this year, when "Pretty Little Baby' became a popular song on TikTok, something that left her "flabbergasted and excited' and inspired her to join TikTok herself. "To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is captivating new generations and audiences is truly overwhelming for me,' she said in her own post in early June.
Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
Nostalgia and gore collide in the new 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'
LOS ANGELES, July 17, (AP): The new "I Know What You Did Last Summer' pretty much follows the plot of the 1997 film of the same name: A bunch of well-to-do young people get stalked and killed by a vengeful killer in a rain slicker with an ice hook. It even has some of the same stars. "It's 1997 all over again. It's so nostalgic,' says Freddie Prinze Jr., who stars in both, this time around. Responds another returning star, Jennifer Love Hewitt: "Nostalgia is overrated.' That line deserves a big laugh from a so-called "legacy sequel' that blends old and new to resurrect a franchise long dormant but isn't sure where it sits in 2025. A wink here, an eye-gouging there. By aping the structure of the original - maddeningly calling itself by its predecessor's name - the new version of "I Know What You Did Last Summer' is both too tentative a step forward and yet too reliant on the past to fully break free of that gravitational pull. The new installment follows a group of post-high school friends (Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Sarah Pidgeon, and Tyriq Withers) who cause a fatal car wreck on July Fourth and swear to keep their involvement a secret. But a year later, someone wants them dead, offering the anniversary warning: "I know what you did last summer.' This is a franchise that got a bit lost in the shadow of the "Scream' dynasty, but still helped make household names of such Gen X heroes as Prinze, Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe. A relaunch makes sense, but it's pretty vapid stuff until the OGs arrive. In fact, you may find yourself rooting for the killer. The five youngsters who have grown up in Southport, North Carolina - "the Hamptons of the South' - mostly live lives of nepo privilege, drinking from flasks, driving Volvos, munching on macarons, and taking Adderall. One lives on a 156-foot (48-meter) yacht with three decks. The movie mostly muddles along like a TV special, only coming to life when Prinze and Hewitt arrive, asked by the hunted youngsters for guidance. After all, the duo survived the 1997 attacks. "Get them before they get you,' Hewitt's Julie advises. Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Lansky, mixes gruesome stabbings, harpoon impalings, and corpses displayed on hooks like fish at the dock with jokes that needle everything from Nicole Kidman's cheesy AMC commercials to our fling with true-crime podcasts. The filmmakers make half-hearted attempts to explain the ripple effects from trauma but we're not here for generational pain; we're here for the slashy-slashy. There is one dream sequence with a surprise returning OG that's worth the ticket price alone. The tone is all over the place - whimpering victims one moment, horny the next. The police in Southport are nefarious - in a nod to "Jaws,' they cover up the murders for fear of turning off tourism - but there's a "Scooby-Doo' vibe here (even a mention) that seems less playful than idea-deprived. There are elements of spoof, too, like a vain woman who has just lost someone close in a grisly bloodbath but worries about her skin care. Look, we hate to break it to you, it's not going to end well for many of this privileged set, as they hunt whoever is hunting them. Coherence is also stabbed a lot because a clear motive for the mass murder is really hard to understand. No matter: We get the scene when a scared victim with a massive knife sticking out of her back shoots a harpoon gun at the hook killer, and that's why we came in the first place. We also get Hewitt screaming her catchphrase, mocking her attacker: "What are you waiting for?' Well, what are you waiting for? "I Know What You Did Last Summer,' a Sony Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated R for "bloody horror violence, language throughout, some sexual content and brief drug use.' Running time: 111 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
