diff --git a/History.txt b/History.txt
index f86f03f..f90c62b 100644
--- a/History.txt
+++ b/History.txt
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ Breaking changes:
 
 New features:
 
+* Added Net::HTTP::Persistent#max_retries= to configure the number of retries
+  performed on a request for ruby versions that support it (2.5+).
 * Use require_relative to reduce patch burden for vendored versions.  Pull
   Request #106 by David Rodríguez
 * URI-ness is determined through #respond_to? to allow compatibility with
diff --git a/lib/net/http/persistent.rb b/lib/net/http/persistent.rb
index c7badfc..4a54118 100644
--- a/lib/net/http/persistent.rb
+++ b/lib/net/http/persistent.rb
@@ -299,6 +299,13 @@ def self.detect_idle_timeout uri, max = 10
 
   attr_accessor :max_requests
 
+  ##
+  # Number of retries to perform if a request fails.
+  #
+  # See also #max_retries=, Net::HTTP#max_retries=.
+
+  attr_reader :max_retries
+
   ##
   # The value sent in the Keep-Alive header.  Defaults to 30.  Not needed for
   # HTTP/1.1 servers.
@@ -476,6 +483,7 @@ def initialize name: nil, proxy: nil, pool_size: DEFAULT_POOL_SIZE
     @write_timeout    = nil
     @idle_timeout     = 5
     @max_requests     = nil
+    @max_retries      = 1
     @socket_options   = []
     @ssl_generation   = 0 # incremented when SSL session variables change
 
@@ -589,9 +597,11 @@ def connection_for uri
       reset connection
     end
 
-    http.read_timeout = @read_timeout if @read_timeout
-    http.write_timeout = @write_timeout if @write_timeout && http.respond_to?(:write_timeout=)
-    http.keep_alive_timeout = @idle_timeout if @idle_timeout
+    http.keep_alive_timeout = @idle_timeout  if @idle_timeout
+    http.max_retries        = @max_retries   if http.respond_to?(:max_retries=)
+    http.read_timeout       = @read_timeout  if @read_timeout
+    http.write_timeout      = @write_timeout if
+      @write_timeout && http.respond_to?(:write_timeout=)
 
     return yield connection
   rescue Errno::ECONNREFUSED
@@ -678,6 +688,23 @@ def normalize_uri uri
     (uri =~ /^https?:/) ? uri : "http://#{uri}"
   end
 
+  ##
+  # Set the maximum number of retries for a request.
+  #
+  # Defaults to one retry.
+  #
+  # Set this to 0 to disable retries.
+
+  def max_retries= retries
+    retries = retries.to_int
+
+    raise ArgumentError, "max_retries must be positive" if retries < 0
+
+    @max_retries = retries
+
+    reconnect
+  end
+
   ##
   # Pipelines +requests+ to the HTTP server at +uri+ yielding responses if a
   # block is given.  Returns all responses received.
diff --git a/test/test_net_http_persistent.rb b/test/test_net_http_persistent.rb
index fc010e0..a6124e8 100644
--- a/test/test_net_http_persistent.rb
+++ b/test/test_net_http_persistent.rb
@@ -248,6 +248,7 @@ def test_connection_for
     @http.open_timeout = 123
     @http.read_timeout = 321
     @http.idle_timeout = 42
+    @http.max_retries  = 5
 
     used = @http.connection_for @uri do |c|
       assert_kind_of Net::HTTP, c.http
@@ -258,6 +259,7 @@ def test_connection_for
       assert_equal 123, c.http.open_timeout
       assert_equal 321, c.http.read_timeout
       assert_equal 42, c.http.keep_alive_timeout
+      assert_equal 5, c.http.max_retries
 
       c
     end
@@ -726,6 +728,13 @@ def test_http_version_IPv6
     assert_equal '1.1', @http.http_version(@uri_v6)
   end
 
+  def test_max_retries_equals
+    @http.max_retries = 5
+
+    assert_equal 5, @http.max_retries
+    assert_equal 1, @http.generation
+  end
+
   def test_normalize_uri
     assert_equal 'http://example',  @http.normalize_uri('example')
     assert_equal 'http://example',  @http.normalize_uri('http://example')