The Salt Path author Raynor Winn secretly published an earlier book under a different name, adding to the growing controversy surrounding her work.
According to Winn’s lawyer, the author released a book in 2012 under the alias Izzy Wyn-Thomas, despite later claiming that The Salt Path was her first.
Winn received widespread acclaim for The Salt Path, including a £10,000 prize for debut writers, and has long maintained it marked her literary debut.
The book, presented as a true story of survival and resilience, follows Winn and her husband, Moth, as they walk 630 miles along the South West Coast Path after losing their home and facing a terminal illness.
“It’s the first thing I’ve written since I was a teenager leaving school – the first thing,” she said in a 2020 interview.
However, a 2025 investigation by The Observer alleged that elements of the memoir were not factually accurate. It also claimed that Winn — whose real name is Sally Walker — had previously embezzled money from a former employer.
The report further suggested that, contrary to the book’s account, the couple lost their home after failing to repay a debt linked to the alleged embezzlement of £64,000.
In the Observer exposé, the article also reported that Winn and her husband set up a publishing company which “only ever published one novel, How Not to Dal dy Dir (Stand Firm), written by an unknown author called Izzy Wyn-Thomas”.
It has since been confirmed by her lawyers, speaking on the BBC Sounds podcast Secrets of the Salt Path, that the “unknown” writer was in fact Winn herself — despite the couple having said in multiple interviews that The Salt Path was her first book.
Those who bought the book at the time were entered into a prize draw to win a home in Wales, which was later revealed to be the couple’s own property, then facing repossession.
The draw described the house as “free of mortgage or any other legal or registered charge”, despite reports that debts were still secured against it.
In a statement issued in 2025, Winn acknowledged the raffle, saying: “We quickly realised it was a mistake as it clearly wasn't going to work. We cancelled it and refunded the few participants.”
When asked by the BBC whether the new information could affect the £10,000 prize Winn had previously received, the Royal Society of Literature said that authors who had self-published were still eligible under the rules in place at the time.
A representative for Winn has been approached by The Standard for comment on the latest revelations.
