diff --git a/crypto-sodium/crypto-sodium.cabal b/crypto-sodium/crypto-sodium.cabal
index 69146a2..d09f055 100644
--- a/crypto-sodium/crypto-sodium.cabal
+++ b/crypto-sodium/crypto-sodium.cabal
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ test-suite test
       Test.Crypto.Sodium.Pwhash
       Test.Crypto.Sodium.Random
       Test.Crypto.Sodium.Salt
+      Test.Crypto.Sodium.Salt.Internal
       Test.Crypto.Sodium.Sign
       Paths_crypto_sodium
   hs-source-dirs:
diff --git a/crypto-sodium/lib/Crypto/Sodium/Salt/Internal.hs b/crypto-sodium/lib/Crypto/Sodium/Salt/Internal.hs
index 4e614b4..7e95899 100644
--- a/crypto-sodium/lib/Crypto/Sodium/Salt/Internal.hs
+++ b/crypto-sodium/lib/Crypto/Sodium/Salt/Internal.hs
@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@ module Crypto.Sodium.Salt.Internal
   ( parseEscapes
   ) where
 
+import Control.Monad (liftM2)
+import Data.Char (isSpace)
 import Data.Maybe (listToMaybe)
-import Text.ParserCombinators.ReadP (eof, readP_to_S, many)
+import Text.ParserCombinators.ReadP (ReadP, readP_to_S, (<++))
 import Text.Read.Lex (lexChar)
 
 -- | Parse a Haskell string literal with escapes.
@@ -19,6 +21,16 @@ import Text.Read.Lex (lexChar)
 --
 -- This function can fail if there are invalid escape sequences.
 parseEscapes :: MonadFail m => String -> m String
-parseEscapes str = case listToMaybe (readP_to_S (many lexChar <* eof) str) of
+parseEscapes str = case listToMaybe (readP_to_S (many' lexChar) str) of
   Just (result, "") -> pure result
-  _ -> fail $ "Failed to parse raw bytes (no parse): " <> str
+  Just (_, rest) -> fail $ case rest of
+      '\\':rest' -> "Failed to parse character escape '\\"
+        <> takeWhile (\c -> not (isSpace c) && c /= '\\') rest' <> "'"
+      -- the next case shouldn't happen since 'lexChar' can only fail on escapes
+      _ -> "Failed to parse string with escapes"
+    <> " at input position " <> show (length str - length rest)
+  -- the last case shouldn't happen since parser will happily parse zero characters
+  _ -> fail $ "Failed to parse string with escapes: " <> str
+
+many' :: ReadP a -> ReadP [a]
+many' p = liftM2 (:) p (many' p) <++ pure []
diff --git a/crypto-sodium/test/Test/Crypto/Sodium/Salt/Internal.hs b/crypto-sodium/test/Test/Crypto/Sodium/Salt/Internal.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..754d53a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crypto-sodium/test/Test/Crypto/Sodium/Salt/Internal.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022 Serokell
+--
+-- SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+{-# LANGUAGE DerivingStrategies #-}
+
+module Test.Crypto.Sodium.Salt.Internal where
+
+import Test.HUnit ((@?=), Assertion)
+
+import Crypto.Sodium.Salt.Internal (parseEscapes)
+
+newtype ErrM a = ErrM (Either String a)
+  deriving stock (Show, Eq)
+  deriving newtype (Functor, Applicative, Monad)
+
+instance MonadFail ErrM where
+  fail = ErrM . Left
+
+ok :: a -> ErrM a
+ok = ErrM . Right
+
+err :: String -> ErrM a
+err = ErrM . Left
+
+unit_parseEscapes_noEscapes, unit_parseEscapes_goodEscapes, unit_parseEscapes_emptyString,
+  unit_parseEscapes_badEscape, unit_parseEscapes_badEscapeMidLine,
+  unit_parseEscapes_emptyEscape :: Assertion
+unit_parseEscapes_noEscapes =
+  parseEscapes "no escapes" @?= ok "no escapes"
+unit_parseEscapes_goodEscapes =
+  parseEscapes "\\123\\456" @?= ok "\123\456"
+unit_parseEscapes_emptyString =
+  parseEscapes "" @?= ok ""
+unit_parseEscapes_badEscape =
+  parseEscapes "\\err" @?= err "Failed to parse character escape '\\err' at input position 0"
+unit_parseEscapes_badEscapeMidLine =
+  parseEscapes "some text \\somearbitrarystring other text"
+    @?= err "Failed to parse character escape '\\somearbitrarystring' at input position 10"
+unit_parseEscapes_emptyEscape =
+  parseEscapes "\\" @?= err "Failed to parse character escape '\\' at input position 0"