diff --git a/cancelreader.go b/cancelreader.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13f794c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cancelreader.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package rehttp
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+)
+
+type cancelReader struct {
+	io.ReadCloser
+
+	cancel context.CancelFunc
+}
+
+func (r cancelReader) Close() error {
+	r.cancel()
+	return r.ReadCloser.Close()
+}
+
+// injectCancelReader propagates the ability for the caller to cancel the request context
+// once done with the response. If the transport cancels before the body stream is read,
+// a race begins where the caller may be unable to read the response bytes before the stream
+// is closed and an error is returned. This helper function wraps a response body in a
+// io.ReadCloser that cancels the context once the body is closed, preventing a context leak.
+// Solution based on https://github.com/go-kit/kit/issues/773.
+func injectCancelReader(res *http.Response, cancel context.CancelFunc) *http.Response {
+	if res == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	res.Body = cancelReader{
+		ReadCloser: res.Body,
+		cancel:     cancel,
+	}
+	return res
+}
diff --git a/perattempttimeout_post17.go b/perattempttimeout_post17.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e92c349
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perattempttimeout_post17.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+//go:build go1.7
+// +build go1.7
+
+package rehttp
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"net/http"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func getRequestContext(req *http.Request) context.Context {
+	return req.Context()
+}
+
+func getPerAttemptTimeoutInfo(ctx context.Context, req *http.Request, timeout time.Duration) (*http.Request, context.CancelFunc) {
+	tctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, timeout)
+	return req.WithContext(tctx), cancel
+}
diff --git a/perattempttimeout_pre17.go b/perattempttimeout_pre17.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e44e4e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perattempttimeout_pre17.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+//go:build !go1.7
+// +build !go1.7
+
+package rehttp
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"net/http"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func getRequestContext(req *http.Request) context.Context {
+	return nil // req.Context() doesn't exist before 1.7
+}
+
+func getPerAttemptTimeoutInfo(ctx context.Context, req *http.Request, timeout time.Duration) (*http.Request, context.CancelFunc) {
+	// req.WithContext() doesn't exist before 1.7, so noop
+	return req, func() {}
+}
diff --git a/rehttp.go b/rehttp.go
index 0c02edf..724e3f8 100644
--- a/rehttp.go
+++ b/rehttp.go
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@
 // (https://golang.org/pkg/net/http/#Transport.CancelRequest).
 //
 // On Go1.7+, it uses the context returned by http.Request.Context
-// to check for cancelled requests.
+// to check for cancelled requests. Before Go1.7, PerAttemptTimeout
+// has no effect.
 //
 // It should work on Go1.5, but only if there is no timeout set on the
 // *http.Client. Go's stdlib will return an error on the first request
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ package rehttp
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
@@ -280,6 +282,22 @@ type Transport struct {
 	// is non-nil.
 	PreventRetryWithBody bool
 
+	// PerAttemptTimeout can be optionally set to add per-attempt timeouts.
+	// These may be used in place of or in conjunction with overall timeouts.
+	// For example, a per-attempt timeout of 5s would mean an attempt will
+	// be canceled after 5s, then the delay fn will be consulted before
+	// potentially making another attempt, which will again be capped at 5s.
+	// This means that the overall duration may be up to
+	// (PerAttemptTimeout + delay) * n, where n is the maximum attempts.
+	// If using an overall timeout (whether on the http client or the request
+	// context), the request will stop at whichever timeout is reached first.
+	// Your RetryFn can determine if a request hit the per-attempt timeout by
+	// checking if attempt.Error == context.DeadlineExceeded (or use errors.Is
+	// on go 1.13+).
+	// time.Duration(0) signals that no per-attempt timeout should be used.
+	// Note that before go 1.7 this option has no effect.
+	PerAttemptTimeout time.Duration
+
 	// retry is a function that determines if the request should be retried.
 	// Unless a retry is prevented based on PreventRetryWithBody, all requests
 	// go through that function, even those that are typically considered
@@ -297,6 +315,9 @@ func (t *Transport) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 	var attempt int
 	preventRetry := req.Body != nil && req.Body != http.NoBody && t.PreventRetryWithBody
 
+	// used as a baseline to set fresh timeouts per-attempt if needed
+	ctx := getRequestContext(req)
+
 	// get the done cancellation channel for the context, will be nil
 	// for < go1.7.
 	done := contextForRequest(req)
@@ -317,19 +338,24 @@ func (t *Transport) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 	}
 
 	for {
-		res, err := t.RoundTripper.RoundTrip(req)
+		var cancel context.CancelFunc = func() {} // empty unless a timeout is set
+		reqWithTimeout := req
+		if t.PerAttemptTimeout != 0 {
+			reqWithTimeout, cancel = getPerAttemptTimeoutInfo(ctx, req, t.PerAttemptTimeout)
+		}
+		res, err := t.RoundTripper.RoundTrip(reqWithTimeout)
 		if preventRetry {
-			return res, err
+			return injectCancelReader(res, cancel), err
 		}
 
 		retry, delay := t.retry(Attempt{
-			Request:  req,
+			Request:  reqWithTimeout,
 			Response: res,
 			Index:    attempt,
 			Error:    err,
 		})
 		if !retry {
-			return res, err
+			return injectCancelReader(res, cancel), err
 		}
 
 		if br != nil {
@@ -338,15 +364,16 @@ func (t *Transport) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 			// to reset on the request is the body, if any.
 			if _, serr := br.Seek(0, 0); serr != nil {
 				// failed to retry, return the results
-				return res, err
+				return injectCancelReader(res, cancel), err
 			}
-			req.Body = ioutil.NopCloser(br)
+			reqWithTimeout.Body = ioutil.NopCloser(br)
 		}
 		// close the disposed response's body, if any
 		if res != nil {
 			io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, res.Body)
 			res.Body.Close()
 		}
+		cancel() // we're done with this response and won't be returning it, so it's safe to cancel immediately
 
 		select {
 		case <-time.After(delay):
diff --git a/rehttp_server_post17_test.go b/rehttp_server_post17_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d9f2f2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rehttp_server_post17_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+//go:build go1.7
+// +build go1.7
+
+package rehttp
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func TestTransport_RoundTripTimeouts(t *testing.T) {
+	// to keep track of any open server requests and ensure the correct number of requests were made
+	ch := make(chan bool, 4)
+
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		ch <- true
+		time.Sleep(time.Millisecond * 100)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusTooManyRequests)
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	tr := NewTransport(
+		http.DefaultTransport,
+		RetryAll(RetryMaxRetries(3), RetryAny(
+			RetryStatuses(http.StatusTooManyRequests), // retry 429s
+			func(attempt Attempt) bool { // retry context deadline exceeded errors
+				return attempt.Error != nil && attempt.Error == context.DeadlineExceeded // errors.Is requires go 1.13+
+			})),
+		ConstDelay(0),
+	)
+	tr.PerAttemptTimeout = time.Millisecond * 10 // short timeout
+
+	client := http.Client{
+		Transport: tr,
+	}
+
+	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, ts.URL, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("error creating request: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	_, err = client.Do(req)
+	// make sure server has finished and got 4 attempts
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Error("expected timeout error doing request but got nil")
+	}
+
+	// repeat the above but this time add a context timeout that will expire before all attempts complete
+	ch = make(chan bool, 2)
+	ctx, cancelFunc := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Millisecond*15)
+	_, err = client.Do(req.WithContext(ctx))
+	cancelFunc()
+	// should only make 2 attempts
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Error("expected timeout error doing request but got nil")
+	}
+
+	// now increase the timeout restriction
+	ch = make(chan bool, 4)
+	tr.PerAttemptTimeout = time.Second
+	res, err := client.Do(req)
+
+	// should have attempted 4 times without going over the timeout
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("got unexpected error doing request: %s", err)
+	}
+	if res == nil || res.StatusCode != http.StatusTooManyRequests {
+		t.Errorf("status code does not match expected: got %d, want %d", res.StatusCode, http.StatusTooManyRequests)
+	}
+
+	// now remove the timeout restriction
+	ch = make(chan bool, 4)
+	tr.PerAttemptTimeout = time.Duration(0)
+	res, err = client.Do(req)
+	// should have attempted 4 times without going over the timeout
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+	<-ch
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("got unexpected error doing request: %s", err)
+	}
+	if res == nil || res.StatusCode != http.StatusTooManyRequests {
+		t.Errorf("status code does not match expected: got %d, want %d", res.StatusCode, http.StatusTooManyRequests)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestCancelReader is meant to test that the cancel reader is correctly
+// preventing the race-case of being unable to read the body due to a
+// preemptively-canceled context.
+func TestCancelReader(t *testing.T) {
+	rt := NewTransport(http.DefaultTransport, RetryMaxRetries(1), ConstDelay(0))
+	rt.PerAttemptTimeout = time.Millisecond * 100
+	client := http.Client{
+		Transport: rt,
+	}
+
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		time.Sleep(time.Millisecond * 10)
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		// need a decent number of bytes to make the race case more likely to fail
+		// https://github.com/go-kit/kit/issues/773
+		w.Write(make([]byte, 102400))
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	req, _ := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, ts.URL, nil)
+	res, err := client.Do(req.WithContext(ctx))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating request: %s", err)
+	}
+	defer res.Body.Close()
+	b, err := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("error reading response body: %s", err)
+	}
+	if len(b) != 102400 {
+		t.Errorf("response byte length does not match expected. got %d, want %d", len(b), 102400)
+	}
+}