Wild
Cheryl Strayed
Like Raynor Winn, Cheryl Strayed walks a long, punishing trail while grieving a loss. Her account of hardship and slow self-repair mirrors the emotional arc that makes The Salt Path so affecting.
12 books to read next
Books Like The Salt Path
If you loved The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Readers who love The Salt Path usually come for its honest account of grief, endurance and the steadying effect of wild coastline. The writing is plain and unshowy, the pace is steady, and the walk itself holds the story together. Many are drawn to how a couple rebuilds a sense of home from almost nothing, finding comfort in weather, sea and small kindnesses along the way.
Long walks in search of change
A Walk in the Woods
Bill Bryson
Bryson's account of hiking the Appalachian Trail offers the same mix of physical struggle, odd encounters and quiet reflection on the land. It is a lighter read, but it shares The Salt Path's sense of a walk changing the walker.
The Old Ways
Robert Macfarlane, Robin Sachs
Macfarlane follows ancient paths on foot and reflects on how walking connects people to landscape and history. Readers who valued the way The Salt Path treats the trail as a place of meaning will find much the same attentiveness here.
Nature as a path to healing
H Is for Hawk
Helen Macdonald
After a devastating loss, Helen Macdonald turns to training a goshawk and finds solace in the wild. Her grief and her turn to nature echo the emotional core of The Salt Path.
The outrun
Amy Liptrot
Amy Liptrot returns to the windswept Orkney islands to rebuild her life, using the sea and weather as anchors. Her clear, unsentimental voice and healing landscape will suit readers moved by The Salt Path.
Wintering
Katherine May
Katherine May writes about enduring hard seasons of life and finding restoration in the natural world. Her gentle, reflective approach to grief and renewal speaks directly to what readers take from The Salt Path.
Resilience against the odds
The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls
Jeannette Walls recounts a childhood of instability and makes a home out of very little. Her resilience and clear-eyed honesty will resonate with readers who were moved by the Winns' rebuilding after losing their home.
Nomadland
Jessica Bruder, Harper Audio
Jessica Bruder follows older Americans who live on the road after losing their homes and savings. It shares The Salt Path's themes of homelessness, self-reliance and finding community outside conventional life.
Educated
Tara Westover
Tara Westover describes growing up isolated from ordinary life and fighting her way towards a new sense of self. Readers who admired the Winns' determination will find a similar strength of spirit here.
Go deeper into the coast and solitude
The Edge of the Sea
Rachel Carson, Robert W. Hines
Rachel Carson's close study of shorelines and the creatures that live along them captures the same wonder at the coast that runs through The Salt Path. Her attentive prose rewards readers who loved the sea scenes.
Ring of bright water
Gavin Maxwell, G. Maxwell
Gavin Maxwell describes living alone in a remote Scottish coastal home with otters for company. It is a classic of solitude and the natural world, suited to readers drawn to the Winns' quiet life by the sea.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau retreats to a simple life close to the land and reflects on what a home really needs. Readers moved by the way The Salt Path strips life back to essentials will find a classic companion here.
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