diff --git a/higher-leveldb.cabal b/higher-leveldb.cabal
--- a/higher-leveldb.cabal
+++ b/higher-leveldb.cabal
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 -- documentation, see http://haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/
 
 name:                higher-leveldb
-version:             0.5.0.0
+version:             0.5.0.1
 synopsis:            A rich monadic API for working with leveldb databases.
 description:         A rich monadic API for working with leveldb databases.
 homepage:            https://github.com/jeremyjh/higher-leveldb
@@ -55,3 +55,4 @@
                    , transformers-base
                    , mtl
                    , transformers
+                   , unliftio
diff --git a/src/Database/LevelDB/Higher.hs b/src/Database/LevelDB/Higher.hs
--- a/src/Database/LevelDB/Higher.hs
+++ b/src/Database/LevelDB/Higher.hs
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@
 import           Control.Monad.Trans.Resource
 import           Control.Monad.Catch               (MonadCatch (..)
                                                    , MonadMask (..))
+import           Control.Monad.IO.Unlift
 
 #if MIN_VERSION_mtl(2,2,1)
 import qualified Control.Monad.Except              as Except
@@ -170,6 +171,11 @@
         q ::  (ResourceT m a -> ResourceT m a) -> LevelDBT m a -> LevelDBT m a
         q u (LevelDBT (ReaderT b)) =
           LevelDBT $ ReaderT (u . b)
+
+instance MonadUnliftIO m => MonadUnliftIO (LevelDBT m) where
+  askUnliftIO = LevelDBT $
+                withUnliftIO $ \u ->
+                return (UnliftIO (unliftIO u . unLevelDBT))
 
 -- | MonadLevelDB class used by all the public functions in this module.
 class ( Monad m
diff --git a/test/Database/LevelDB/HigherSpec.hs b/test/Database/LevelDB/HigherSpec.hs
--- a/test/Database/LevelDB/HigherSpec.hs
+++ b/test/Database/LevelDB/HigherSpec.hs
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
 import           Test.Hspec
 import           System.Process(system)
 import           Database.LevelDB.Higher
-import           Control.Concurrent                (ThreadId, threadDelay)
+import           UnliftIO.Concurrent                (ThreadId, threadDelay)
+import           UnliftIO.MVar
 import           Control.Monad.Trans.Resource
 import           Control.Monad.Reader
 import           Control.Monad.Writer
@@ -128,9 +129,9 @@
                     put "onetwo" "three"
                     forkTestAppR $ do
                         rv <- ask
-                        liftIO $ threadDelay 1
+                        threadDelay 1
                         put "three" rv
-                    liftIO $ threadDelay 100
+                    threadDelay 100
                     get "three"
                 `shouldReturn` Just "a string value to read"
             it "scans with a keyspace" $ do
@@ -140,7 +141,17 @@
                     xs <- scan "" queryItems
                     return $ length xs
                 `shouldReturn` 10
-
+        describe "exports a working MonadUnliftIO instance" $ do
+          it "can modifyMVar in a working LevelDBT context" $ do
+            withDBT $ do
+                mv <- newMVar 0
+                modifyMVar_ mv $ \v -> do
+                    put "somekey" "somedata"
+                    return (v + 1)
+                mvalue <- readMVar mv
+                Just ldbvalue <- get "somekey"
+                return (mvalue, ldbvalue)
+            `shouldReturn` (1, "somedata")
 
 testDB = "/tmp/leveltest"
 dbOpts = def {createIfMissing = True, cacheSize= 2048}