Raynor and Moth Winn’s world collapsed when they were in their 50s. The British couple lost their home and savings after investing in a friend’s business, then Moth was diagnosed with a rare and fatal degenerative brain disorder. Out of money and running out of time, they took to the road, camping along southwestern England’s scenic, 630-mile and often windswept and rainy South West Coast Path. Their subsequent struggles with the elements and their tent, and their redemption through hiking and heartwarming encounters with the natives, led to Raynor’s 2018 memoir, The Salt Path. It became a huge hit, generating two bestselling sequels and now a minor motion picture, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

The Observer marked the movie’s release by exposing the “lies, deceit, and desperation” behind The Salt Path. Raynor Winn is really Sally Walker, and Moth is her husband, Timothy. In 2008, Sally, an accounts clerk, was caught defrauding her employer of $87,000. To pay it back and cover legal costs, the Walkers borrowed $135,000 at 18% interest from a distant relative, using their home, on which they had a $312,000 mortgage, as collateral. The relative’s business went bust, and the debt was sold on. In 2013, the Walkers forfeited their house in court. Ever ingenious, the Walkers founded a publishing house. Its catalogue contained a single book and a unique inducement. All buyers would be entered in a prize draw to win the Walkers’ house, which was offered “free of mortgage or any other legal or registered charge.”