A pinch of salt path

I've been surprised by the outcry over the book The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.  I don't suppose it's even necessary now to explain that it's the (supposedly true)  narrative about how a middle-aged couple walked their way out of financial disaster, homelessness and serious health issues.
It was followed up by two more books and a much-vaunted film of the same name before the news broke that it wasn't strictly true - and the author has been accused of theft and financial fraud too.

I read the original book and wasn't especially impressed, didn't feel inclined to see the film. And yet it seems that many found the story 'inspirational' and now feel cheated and let down.

While Raynor Winn must be held responsible for any criminal activity she's undertaken, the notion that first-person narratives  are faithful to the facts must surely have long proved untenable. Old salts always span yarns about their adventures - nobody could prove them right or wrong. Travellers' tales have always been a  byword for fabrication and embellishment. Even some of the most iconic have been brought into doubt. Who really reached the North Pole first - Robert Peary or Frederick Cook? They both claimed to do so and dined out on the claims.

Some years ago a book called The Long Walk purported to be the true story of how a Polish man called   Sławomir Rawicz escaped from a Siberian gulag and walked all the way to India in 1941. Much later, his account was challenged. See here. The real story will never be known.

Raynor Winn is not the first person to write her way out of a tight spot (or to find herself in a tighter one). I hope she does the decent thing and repays whatever she owes - she can clearly afford to do so now.  I wish that publishers had done the background checks more thoroughly. Of course, the book's been a money spinner for them too.

 But mostly I wish too that folk were a bit less gullible. You can't believe everything you read, or hear.  Check, challenge, compare, and take it everything with a large pinch of salt!