diff --git a/lib/System/Network/ZMQ/MDP/Client.hs b/lib/System/Network/ZMQ/MDP/Client.hs
--- a/lib/System/Network/ZMQ/MDP/Client.hs
+++ b/lib/System/Network/ZMQ/MDP/Client.hs
@@ -39,14 +39,25 @@
    connect s socketAddress
    io (ClientSocket s)
 
-
+-- pretty sure there's a nicer way of doing this...
+retry :: Monad m => Int -> m (Maybe a) -> m (Maybe a)
+retry n action = go n
+  where go 0 = return Nothing
+        go n = do
+          result <- action
+          case result of
+            Nothing -> go (n-1)
+            Just x -> return $ Just x
+    
 sendAndReceive :: ClientSocket -> ByteString -> [ByteString] -> IO (Either ClientError Response)
 sendAndReceive mdpcs svc msgs =
   do -- Z.send sock "" [SndMore]
      Z.send sock "MDPC01"  [SndMore]
      Z.send sock svc       [SndMore]
      sendAll sock msgs
-     maybeprot <- timeout (1000000 * 3) $ receive sock []
+     -- arguably we shouldn't retry if the protocol is bad.
+     -- but i'm disinclined to make the code more complex to cope
+     maybeprot <- retry 3 $ timeout (1000000 * 3) $ receive sock []
      case maybeprot of
        Nothing -> return $ Left ClientTimedOut
        Just "MDPC01" -> do
diff --git a/majordomo.cabal b/majordomo.cabal
--- a/majordomo.cabal
+++ b/majordomo.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                majordomo
-Version:             0.1.3
+Version:             0.1.4
 Synopsis:            Majordomo protocol for ZeroMQ
 Description:         The Majordomo Protocol (MDP) defines a reliable
                      service-oriented request-reply dialog between a
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 Executable mdp_client
   Main-is: mdp_client.hs
-  Build-depends: majordomo ==0.1.3, bytestring, cmdargs,base
+  Build-depends: majordomo ==0.1.4, bytestring, cmdargs,base
   hs-source-dirs: src
   ghc-options: -O2 -threaded
 
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
   ghc-options: -O2 -threaded
   ghc-prof-options: -auto-all
   hs-source-dirs: src
-  Build-depends: majordomo ==0.1.3,bytestring, 
+  Build-depends: majordomo ==0.1.4,bytestring, 
                  threads, unix,base
 
 Library