Scandal-hit Salt Path creator Raynor Winn delays upcoming novel till 2028 after ‘appreciable misery’ when she was accused of embezzlement and fabricating elements of her memoir
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn has delayed the publication of her upcoming novel until 2028 after accusations of embezzlement and fabricating parts of her memoir left her in ‘considerable distress‘.
Winn was set to publish On Winter Hill in October after the novel was already delayed for a year, but now publishers Penguin have quietly pushed back the release date to January 2028.
Last year, her best-selling memoir The Salt Path was the subject of public backlash when the authenticity of her ‘unflinchingly honest’ account of her and husband Moth’s 630-mile hike along the South West Coast Path was called into question.
Winn and Moth, real names Sally and Tim Walker, were accused of losing their home after stealing £64,000 from her former employer and doubts were raised over Moth’s corticobasal degeneration (CBD) diagnosis.
It was these dramatic allegations that meant Winn and Penguin had decided to initially delay the book after ‘considerable distress’.
Her latest book is billed as a non-fiction work about Winn’s next walk, this time without her husband due to a decline in his health.
The advert on Penguin’s website reads: ‘After a turbulent year, Raynor Winn embarks on the Coast to Coast Walk in winter, unexpectedly alone.
‘Despite 45 years of walking together, setbacks in her husband, Moth’s, health have led him to see his decline as inevitable, which Raynor refuses to accept. Feeling trapped, she is drawn north, like a migratory bird, seeking the peace and hope that walking brings her.’
Moth and Raynor Winn (real names Sally and Tim Walker) were the subject of Winn’s 2018 memoir The Salt Path, following their story of losing their house and walking 630 miles along the South Coast Path. Now her new book is delayed but follows her next big solo walk
The Salt Path was turned into a major film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in 2024 but has since been the subject of scandal
The 2018 memoir follows her and her husband Moth’s story when their house is repossessed and her husband is diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease. The couple set out on a 630-mile adventure along the South Coast Path together.
The book has sold over two million copies and was made into a 2024 film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.
An investigation by The Observer emerged, doubting the story behind the repossession of the couple’s home and whether Moth did in fact have CBD.
It was claimed the couple were in financial straits and lost their home because they had stolen £64,000 from a former employer, the Hemmings family.
But Winn denied these claims as ‘grotesquely unfair, highly misleading and seeks to systematically pick apart my life’ in a lengthy 2,300-word statement.
However, she did admit ‘deep regret’ over mistakes made that led to allegations she has been embezzling money, but denied the allegation itself.
She said: ‘I worked for Martin Hemmings in the years before the economic crash of 2008. For me it was a pressured time.
‘It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.’
An investigation in July by The Observer alleged that Winn embezzled £64,000 from her former employer which is how they got into financial straits. There were also doubts raised on whether Moth did actually have corticobasal degeneration
A Sky documentary last December revealed that Winn’s family claims she defrauded them of huge sums and that they dismiss Moth as a ‘fantasist’ who does not have CBD and has been making spurious claims of illness since his youth.
‘She left my grandmother [Winn’s own mother] with no money,’ says one niece, who asked not to be named. ‘She forged my grandmother’s bank statements. It broke her to the very core. The daughter who she idolised and put on a pedestal broke her.’
Dr James Gratwicke backed up the family’s doubt of Moth’s CBD diagnosis, saying the maximum life expectancy is nine years, when Moth claims to have had it for 18 years.
Winn said that to say he did not suffer from the disease was an ‘utterly vile, unfair, and false suggestion’.
Despite this vitriol, Penguin has said they will ‘support the author’.
In a statement reported by The Bookseller in July, the publisher said: ‘Given recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health condition which has caused considerable distress to Raynor Winn and her family, it is our priority to support the author at this time.
‘With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October. We will announce a new publication date in due course.’
The book is now set for publishing on January 27, 2028, Penguin’s website says.
The Daily Mail has approached Raynor Winn and Penguin Michael Joseph for a comment.
