diff --git a/read.go b/read.go
index ea014f1..fff0448 100644
--- a/read.go
+++ b/read.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"gopkg.in/warnings.v0"
 )
 
-var unescape = map[rune]rune{'\\': '\\', '"': '"', 'n': '\n', 't': '\t'}
+var unescape = map[rune]rune{'\\': '\\', '"': '"', 'n': '\n', 't': '\t', 'b': '\b'}
 
 // no error: invalid literals should be caught by scanner
 func unquote(s string) string {
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func unquote(s string) string {
 	return string(u)
 }
 
-func read(c *warnings.Collector, callback func(string,string,string,string,bool)error,
+func read(c *warnings.Collector, callback func(string, string, string, string, bool) error,
 	fset *token.FileSet, file *token.File, src []byte) error {
 	//
 	var s scanner.Scanner
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ func readInto(config interface{}, fset *token.FileSet, file *token.File,
 // (as opposed to set to empty string).
 //
 // If callback returns an error, ReadWithCallback terminates with an error too.
-func ReadWithCallback(reader io.Reader, callback func(string,string,string,string,bool)error) error {
+func ReadWithCallback(reader io.Reader, callback func(string, string, string, string, bool) error) error {
 	src, err := ioutil.ReadAll(reader)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/read_test.go b/read_test.go
index d9ff5f8..e2727f1 100644
--- a/read_test.go
+++ b/read_test.go
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 package gcfg
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"math/big"
 	"os"
 	"reflect"
-	"testing"
-	"bytes"
 	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
@@ -127,6 +128,8 @@ var readtests = []struct {
 	{"[section]\nname=\"va\\\"lue\"", &cBasic{Section: cBasicS1{Name: "va\"lue"}}, true},
 	{"[section]\nname=\"va\\nlue\"", &cBasic{Section: cBasicS1{Name: "va\nlue"}}, true},
 	{"[section]\nname=\"va\\tlue\"", &cBasic{Section: cBasicS1{Name: "va\tlue"}}, true},
+	{"[section]\nname=x:\\\\path\\\\", &cBasic{Section: cBasicS1{Name: "x:\\path\\"}}, true},
+	{"[section]\nname=\\b", &cBasic{Section: cBasicS1{Name: "\b"}}, true},
 	{"\n[section]\nname=\\", &cBasic{}, false},
 	{"\n[section]\nname=\\a", &cBasic{}, false},
 	{"\n[section]\nname=\"val\\a\"", &cBasic{}, false},
diff --git a/scanner/scanner.go b/scanner/scanner.go
index f158676..b1eef06 100644
--- a/scanner/scanner.go
+++ b/scanner/scanner.go
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ func (s *Scanner) scanEscape(val bool) {
 	switch ch {
 	case '\\', '"':
 		// ok
-	case 'n', 't':
+	case 'n', 't', 'b':
 		if val {
 			break // ok
 		}
@@ -232,10 +232,10 @@ loop:
 				s.next()
 			}
 			if s.ch != '\n' {
-				s.error(offs, "unquoted '\\' must be followed by new line")
-				break loop
+				s.scanEscape(true)
+			} else {
+				s.next()
 			}
-			s.next()
 		case ch == '"':
 			inQuote = !inQuote
 		case ch == '\r':
diff --git a/scanner/scanner_test.go b/scanner/scanner_test.go
index 27db5e7..36f89e0 100644
--- a/scanner/scanner_test.go
+++ b/scanner/scanner_test.go
@@ -381,8 +381,8 @@ var errors = []struct {
 	{"\"\n", token.STRING, 0, "string not terminated"},
 	{`="`, token.STRING, 1, "string not terminated"},
 	{"=\"\n", token.STRING, 1, "string not terminated"},
-	{"=\\", token.STRING, 1, "unquoted '\\' must be followed by new line"},
-	{"=\\\r", token.STRING, 1, "unquoted '\\' must be followed by new line"},
+	{"=\\", token.STRING, 2, "unknown escape sequence"},
+	{"=\\\r", token.STRING, 3, "unknown escape sequence"},
 	{`"\z"`, token.STRING, 2, "unknown escape sequence"},
 	{`"\a"`, token.STRING, 2, "unknown escape sequence"},
 	{`"\b"`, token.STRING, 2, "unknown escape sequence"},