Jennifer Neville, Truth is Trickiest: The Case for Ambiguity in the Exeter Book Riddles. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2024, 376 pp.

As the title indicates, this study focuses on the Old English riddles of the Exeter Book, with a particular emphasis on the ambiguity one faces when approaching these texts. The 95 riddles of the Exeter Book differ from the Anglo-Latin riddling tradition, out of which they emerged, in that they are unaccompanied by written answers. Jennifer Neville sees in this an advantage, rather than a limitation. She suggests that this lack of explicit solutions creates a different riddling experience, in which the goal was not the methodical finding of a definite solution, but rather the enjoyment of sustained thought and debate across a range of possible answers. Neville demonstrates the value of this approach throughout her book, with a particular emphasis on the ways that these riddles use various tropes to inform, trick, or mislead their readership.