diff --git a/sailthru/sailthru_client.py b/sailthru/sailthru_client.py
index b6085e5..7db1925 100644
--- a/sailthru/sailthru_client.py
+++ b/sailthru/sailthru_client.py
@@ -55,10 +55,21 @@ class SailthruClient(object):
         client = SailthruCLient(api_key, api_secret)
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, api_key, secret, api_url=None):
+    def __init__(self, api_key, secret,
+                 api_url=None, timeout=None, retries=None):
+        """Create a new client.
+
+        @param api_key: the key used to identify this app to sailthru
+        @param secret: the secret used to authenticate this user with sailthru
+        @param api_url: the protocol+host to send API requests to, or None for the default
+        @param timeout: how long to wait for HTTP requests, or None for the default
+        @param retries: how many times to retry on transient HTTP errors, or None for the default.
+        """
         self.api_key = api_key
         self.secret = secret
-        self.api_url = api_url if api_url else 'https://api.sailthru.com'
+        self.api_url = api_url if api_url is not None else 'https://api.sailthru.com'
+        self.timeout = timeout if timeout is not None else 10
+        self.retries = retries if retries is not None else 0
         self.last_rate_limit_info = {}
 
     def send(self, template, email, _vars=None, options=None, schedule_time=None, limit=None):
@@ -762,7 +773,8 @@ def _api_request(self, action, data, request_type):
     def _http_request(self, action, data, method, file_data=None):
         url = self.api_url + '/' + action
         file_data = file_data or {}
-        response = sailthru_http_request(url, data, method, file_data)
+        response = sailthru_http_request(url, data, method, file_data,
+                                         timeout=self.timeout, retries=self.retries)
         if (action in self.last_rate_limit_info):
             self.last_rate_limit_info[action][method] = response.get_rate_limit_headers()
         else:
@@ -788,4 +800,4 @@ def get_last_rate_limit_info(self, action, method):
         if (action in self.last_rate_limit_info and method in self.last_rate_limit_info[action]):
             return self.last_rate_limit_info[action][method]
 
-        return None
\ No newline at end of file
+        return None
diff --git a/sailthru/sailthru_http.py b/sailthru/sailthru_http.py
index ac332e6..c3b0bdf 100644
--- a/sailthru/sailthru_http.py
+++ b/sailthru/sailthru_http.py
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ def flatten(hash_table, brackets=True):
         return f
     return flatten(hash_table, False)
 
-def sailthru_http_request(url, data, method, file_data=None):
+def sailthru_http_request(url, data, method, file_data=None,
+                          timeout=10, retries=0):
     """
     Perform an HTTP GET / POST / DELETE request
     """
@@ -37,7 +38,27 @@ def sailthru_http_request(url, data, method, file_data=None):
 
     try:
         headers = {'User-Agent': 'Sailthru API Python Client %s; Python Version: %s' % ('2.3.3', platform.python_version())}
-        response = requests.request(method, url, params=params, data=data, files=file_data, headers=headers, timeout=10)
+        if retries > 0:
+            session = requests.Session()
+            # We retry on connection errors and all 5xx errors.  We do
+            # not retry on read errors since for POST requests that
+            # happens after the POST has finished, and POSTs are not
+            # necessarily safe to re-do.
+            retry = requests.packages.urllib3.Retry(
+                retries,
+                read=0,
+                method_whitelist=False,
+                status_forcelist={500, 502, 503, 504},
+                raise_on_status=False)
+            session.mount(url, requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter(max_retries=retry))
+        else:
+            session = requests
+        response = session.request(method, url,
+                                   params=params,
+                                   data=data,
+                                   files=file_data,
+                                   headers=headers,
+                                   timeout=timeout)
         return SailthruResponse(response)
     except requests.HTTPError as e:
         raise SailthruClientError(str(e))