For Raynor Winn and her husband Moth, the cruellest of diagnoses and the simultaneous collapse of their business opens an unexpected door to salvation through a journey which over its length transforms into a sweeping narrative of inner courage and nature’s ability to heal.
Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month for February 2019
Shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards 2018
Shortlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2018
Just days after Raynor learns that Moth, her husband of 32 years is terminally ill, their home and livelihood is taken away.
With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall.
They have almost no money for food or shelter and must carry only the essentials for survival on their backs as they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable journey.
The Salt Path is an honest 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.
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781405937184
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 204 g
Dimensions: 193 x 127 x 18 mm
A beautiful, thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, human strength and endurance - Guardian
An astonishing narrative of two people dragging themselves from the depths of despair along some of the most dramatic landscapes in the country, looking for a solution to their problems and ultimately finding themselves. - Independent
A gem of a book - Guardian, Best Books of Summer
This is what you need to read right now to muster hope and resilience. A beautiful story and a reminder that humans can endure adversity - Stylist
Ray's account of their incredible journey is a tale of triumph, of hope over despair - Pick of the paperbacks, The Sunday Times
The landscape is magical, shape-shifting seas and smugglers' coves; myriad sea birds and mauve skies . . . It's a tale of triumph: of hope over despair; of love over everything . . . home was no longer about bricks and mortar. It was a state of mind - The Sunday Times
An inspirational nature memoir for fans of H is for Hawk about losing everything and finding yourself between the elements of sea and sky - Waterstones
The Salt Path is a life-affirming tale of enduring love that smells of the sea and tastes of a rich life. With beautiful, immersive writing, it is a story heart-achingly and beautifully told.
The most inspirational book of this year . . . In some ways The Salt Path reads like the ultimate drop-out odyssey, except that this journey isn't a life choice . . . What the book chiefly conveys is the human capacity for endurance and the regenerative power of nature . . . The Salt Path also serves as a reminder that Britain is a land criss-crossed by footpaths and that we take this 140,000-mile national glory for granted at our peril . . . The Salt Path has reminded me to scrape last year's mud from my walking boots and get rambling again. I hope it has the same impact on millions of others. - The Times
Moving and beautifully evocative - i
Uplifting and inspirational - Woman & Home
An exquisite piece of writing - Western Morning News
A remarkable and redemptive journey - Financial Times
This beautiful, meditative book should give us all a sense of our possible braveries: offering us an answer to the "what if?" questions - "what if we lost absolutely everything, what would we do?" . . . An extraordinary testament to love, hope and resilience.
A fabulous read, inspiring and life-affirming. If you're not already walking the coastal path, this book will make you want to set-off immediately. It is a hymn to the power of love, sear-air and the natural beauty of Cornwall to heal and nurture. It's an absolute joy - Cornwall Life
What an absolutely glorious and moving book. It deserves all its praise!
A triumph of love and hope and giving oneself up to the healing power of nature. Beautifully written with vivid imagery, what a heart-warming and glorious read
You lost me a whole night's work. This is a great read.
A beautiful ode to how nature can soothe and inspire hope with every step . . . this book is really special - Stylist
Mesmerising. It is one of the most uplifting, inspiring books that I've ever read - i (The paper for today)
Filled with wry humour, this is a wonderfully uplifting and touching book - Guardian
This is a wonderful, heart-gladdening, life-affirming read. It will make you want to walk. What a gem.
Luminescent. A literary phenomenon - Mail on Sunday
Utterly inspirational - The Times
The Salt Path broke my heart and put it back together again over and over. Beautiful writing, and such a sharp eye - both for nature and for people. It's hopeful and sad and honest and I LOVED it.
Harnesses the wildness of rock, sky and coastal walking in life-affirming prose - Emma Stonex, Guardian
Radiant, soaring, heartstring-tugging - BBC Countryfile
A remarkable account of the healing power of landscape and the resilience of the human spirit. I felt the rain on my face and heard the waves pounding on the sand.
Inspirational - Good Housekeeping
The Salt Path pummelled me like Atlantic winds. It carried me along on a rain-soaked, sun-burnt, despair-infused, hope-driven walk. The writing is at times raw, poetic, funny, shocking. It is consistently honest, vulnerable, clear. I finished the book reminded of the importance of really hearing people's stories, of the healing power of the natural world, and of our individual and collective now. - The Ecologist
A thoughtful, lyrical story of homelessness, strength and endurance - The Week
A moving true story - i Paper
By turns inspirational and horrifying . . . [Winn] writes with a detail and a joy that tugs at the reader, lifting this beyond a mere travel memoir and all the privations and hardship to be something truly meaningful - Times Higher Education
Beautiful, sad, erudite and uplifting - The New European
An uplifting tale - Cornish Times
Vivid . . .This is a book essentially about hope, but also about sheer gritty determination not to give in, to survive extreme discomfort, danger and sometimes disillusionment - Kibworth & District Chronicle
An inspirational true story - Top Sante
It's a heart-warming, heart-wrenching story, told by Raynor in vivid yet plain prose. There are so many wonderful passages - Church Times
Raynor's writing is beautiful. It's a heart-wrenching read at times, but you won't be able to put it down - Mirror
We walk with Ray and Moth every step of the way, sharing the hunger, exhaustion, blazing heat and freezing rain in an account that is both lyrical and inspirational - Guardian, Top 10 books about walking in Britain
An extraordinary memoir - moving, funny and uplifting - Open Up
An inspirational and lyrically observed memoir on the regenerative power of walking in nature, as well as a reminder that material things are much less important than we sometimes think. If you love the landscape of the British coastline and are drawn to the philosophies of mindfulness and minimalism, this is a moving and reflective book to read during a break from your everyday life - Guardian
Raynor Winn's glorious memoir tells the real-life story of her hike along the South West Coast Path, which she embarked upon with her husband after they lost their home. It's raw yet uplifting - and guaranteed to inspire your next adventure - Huffington Post UK
A thoughtful reflection on ageing and infirmity, home and homelessness, hope and survival - Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, Daily Telegraph
A life-affirming story that examines grief and the power of nature - Liz Earle Wellbeing
Poignant . . . It's far from a book without hope, and you'll be with Raynor and Moth every step of their walk along the South West Coast Path - Country Walking
A heart-wrenching, inspiring tale of one couple's enduring love for each other in the face of calamity and of their accidental odyssey along England's South West Coast Path - Advnture
A love story of resilience and optimism, brimming with heart and humanity - Ruth Jones, Prima
A gripping domestic disaster story turned celebration of survival - Country Walking
A true story of hope in a dire situation - Daily Express
Sometimes you really can judge a book by its cover. From the moment I opened this beautifully designed book, I was enraptured by Ray and Moth's journey from the dark days of losing their family home back into the... More
A wonderful memoir about a middle aged couple who days after losing everything they own and then finding out Moth, the husband is terminally ill decide they have nothing else to lose and set off on a 630 mile journey... More
An extraordinary ‘there but for the grace of god read’.
Having lost absolutely everything, except their determination, Raynor and her husband Moth embark on an inspirational adventure walking the south west coastal...
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