When non-fiction becomes fiction

When does creative nonfiction cross the line into fabrication, and does it matter? That's the question being asked by many after serious concerns were raised about the bestselling memoir The Salt Path. The 2018 book, which has sold nearly two million copies worldwide and been adapted into a feature film, tells the story of a couple, Raynor Winn and her husband Moth, who walked Britain's 1,000km South West Coast Path after their home was repossessed. But an investigation by the Observer newspaper has cast doubt over key parts of the memoir, including how the couple lost their home, the fact that they owned land in France and questions around Moth's terminal diagnosis of a rare disease. So, what should we expect from a memoir? Should we take everything written as the truth and nothing but the truth? Or is there room for creative embellishment? To explore the issue, Emile speaks to writer, editor and lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Nicola Redhouse.