Author Guide · Memoir & Nature Writing
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In The Salt Path (2018), Raynor Winn describes setting out with her husband Moth on the 630-mile South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset by way of Devon and Cornwall, with very little money and a tent. The book won the Royal Society of Literature’s first Christopher Bland Prize in 2019, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Wainwright Prize, and was filmed with Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in 2025. Her books have sold over two million copies in English. Two more walking memoirs followed, and in 2025 an investigation by The Observer put the first one under public scrutiny. This guide covers her four key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 4 key books · 2012–2022 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Raynor Winn has published four books: a little-known novel under the name Izzy Wyn-Thomas (2012), then the walking memoirs The Salt Path (2018), The Wild Silence (2020) and Landlines (2022). A fourth memoir, On Winter Hill, is now listed for January 2028. Start with The Salt Path; the FAQ below also sets out what The Observer reported in 2025 and how Winn and her publisher responded.
Where to Start with Raynor Winn
If you want the book everyone talks about
→ The Salt Path (2018) — the coast path walk that became a film.
If you want to know what happened next
→ The Wild Silence (2020) — a farm in Cornwall and a life back indoors.
If you want a longer, harder walk
→ Landlines (2022) — a thousand miles from Scotland to the south-west.
4 Raynor Winn Books, in Order
How Not to Dal dy Dir
A novel published under the name Izzy Wyn-Thomas through Gangani Publishing, the Winns’ own company, in a small print run. Its existence became public in March 2026, when Winn confirmed she had written it; until then The Salt Path had been presented as her first book. Press reports noted that its plot resembles The Salt Path.
The Salt Path
Winn’s account of the months after, as she tells it, she and Moth lost their home and he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and of their decision to walk the South West Coast Path, carrying only essentials and sleeping outdoors along the coast. It became a Sunday Times bestseller, won the Christopher Bland Prize for debut writers in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Wainwright Prize. In 2024 the Sunday Times included it in its list of the 100 best books of the previous 50 years. Parts of its account were questioned by The Observer in 2025 (see the FAQ).
The Wild Silence
The sequel picks up after the walk, when Winn and Moth find it hard to live indoors again. In her account a reader of The Salt Path offers them the chance to restore a farmhouse in the Cornish hills, and the book follows their work rewilding the land and replanting its hedgerows. It was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing in 2021.
Landlines
With Moth’s health declining, the couple set out on a walk of about a thousand miles, starting on the Cape Wrath Trail in the far north-west of Scotland and heading back to the South West Coast Path. Alongside the walk, Winn writes about the state of Britain’s land and wildlife.
In What Order to Read Raynor Winn
The three memoirs are one continuing story and are best read in publication order: The Salt Path introduces Winn and Moth, The Wild Silence follows them off the path and onto a farm, and Landlines sends them out again. Each later book assumes you know the first.
The 2012 novel was published in a small print run under another name, so most readers will never come across it. On Winter Hill, a solo winter walk on the Coast to Coast route, would come fourth in the series; Penguin now lists it for January 2028.
A reading path
1. The Salt Path (2018)
2. The Wild Silence (2020)
3. Landlines (2022)
Forthcoming
Beyond the 4 key books: 1 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Announced, not yet published
1
1 book · 2028
- 2028On Winter Hilla solo winter walk on the Coast to Coast route; postponed from October 2025
The years · 1962–2025
Quick facts about Raynor Winn
- Known for
- The Salt Path, her account of walking the South West Coast Path with her husband Moth, which sold in the millions, became a 2025 film and was then the subject of a 2025 Observer investigation
- 1962
- Born in Melton Mowbray
- 2018
- The Salt Path
- 2025
- Film release; The Observer investigation
- Born
- 1962, Melton Mowbray; grew up on a farm at Dunstall, near Burton upon Trent
- Name
- Born Sally Ann Winn; married name Walker. “Raynor” comes from her mother’s maiden name
- Family
- Married to Timothy Walker, known as Moth; two adult children
- Publisher
- Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin
- Honours
- RSL Christopher Bland Prize (2019); shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award (2018) and twice for the Wainwright Prize
- Adaptation
- The Salt Path (2025), with Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, premiered at Toronto in 2024
The red mark is 2018: The Salt Path, the book that made her name.
How Raynor Winn Writes: One Walk per Book
Each of her memoirs is built around a long walk. The route gives the book its shape: The Salt Path follows the South West Coast Path from Somerset round to Dorset, and Landlines runs from the Cape Wrath Trail back to the same coast. Daily distances, weather, food and where to pitch the tent carry the narrative forward.
Inside that structure she writes in the first person about larger subjects: homelessness and how people react to it in The Salt Path, farming and rewilding in The Wild Silence, and the condition of Britain’s countryside in Landlines. Moth’s health runs through all three books as a second storyline.
Her prose has also been performed. Saltlines (2022), an album with Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Big Band, set passages from her books alongside traditional songs of south-west England and toured in 2022 and 2024. After the 2025 Observer article the remaining tour dates with Winn were cancelled.
Frequently asked questions about Raynor Winn’s books
How many books has Raynor Winn written?
Four have been published: the novel How Not to Dal dy Dir (2012), issued under the name Izzy Wyn-Thomas, and three walking memoirs, The Salt Path (2018), The Wild Silence (2020) and Landlines (2022). A fifth book, On Winter Hill, has been announced for January 2028.
What are Raynor Winn’s books in order?
How Not to Dal dy Dir (2012, as Izzy Wyn-Thomas), The Salt Path (2018), The Wild Silence (2020) and Landlines (2022). The three memoirs form one series and are best read in that order.
Where should I start with Raynor Winn?
With The Salt Path. The two later memoirs continue the same story and assume you have read it.
What is Raynor Winn’s most famous book?
The Salt Path (2018), her account of walking the South West Coast Path with Moth. It won the RSL Christopher Bland Prize in 2019, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Wainwright Prize, and was made into a film in 2025.
What did The Observer report about The Salt Path, and how did Winn respond?
On 5 July 2025 The Observer published an investigation by Chloe Hadjimatheou. It reported that Winn, whose legal name is Sally Walker, had been accused of taking about £64,000 from a former employer, where she worked as an accounts clerk, before the couple lost their house in Wales; that the couple owned a property in France; and it quoted neurologists who were sceptical about Moth’s diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration. Winn called the article “highly misleading”. She said she regretted “mistakes” earlier in her career, that the matter with her former employer had been settled on a non-admissions basis and that she was never charged, and she released extracts from letters by Moth’s doctors. Penguin Michael Joseph said it had carried out the usual pre-publication checks and had received no concerns about the book’s content before, and postponed her next book. The film’s producers, Number 9 Films and Shadowplay Features, said no issues were known during filming and that due diligence had been carried out. In March 2026 Winn confirmed that she had published an earlier novel under another name. The central claims remain disputed.
Is there a film of The Salt Path?
Yes. The Salt Path, starring Gillian Anderson as Raynor and Jason Isaacs as Moth, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2024 and opened in UK cinemas on 30 May 2025.
How long is the walk in The Salt Path?
About 630 miles: the whole South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset by way of the coasts of Devon and Cornwall.
When is Raynor Winn’s next book coming out?
On Winter Hill, about a solo winter walk on the Coast to Coast route, was due on 23 October 2025. Penguin Michael Joseph postponed it in July 2025 and now lists it for January 2028.
What prizes has Raynor Winn won?
The Salt Path won the Royal Society of Literature’s first Christopher Bland Prize, a prize for debut writers, in 2019. It was also shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Wainwright Prize in 2018, and The Wild Silence was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing in 2021.
Footnotes
- Raynor Winn — Wikipedia
- The Salt Path — Penguin
- On Winter Hill — Penguin
- ‘The Salt Path’ is mired in controversy — Associated Press, July 2025
- Salt Path author’s new book delayed — LBC, July 2025
- Raynor Winn interview — Woman & Home, May 2025
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Walking allows us to let things go.”
— Raynor Winn, interview with Woman & Home (2025)
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