diff --git a/lib.nix b/lib.nix
index 14f25b5..9395260 100644
--- a/lib.nix
+++ b/lib.nix
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  */
 let
   inherit (builtins) isString isFloat isInt isBool isList isAttrs isNull isPath;
-  inherit (builtins) concatStringsSep filter mapAttrs attrValues concatLists match;
+  inherit (builtins) concatStringsSep filter mapAttrs attrValues concatLists match replaceStrings;
 
   isNotNull = v: !(isNull v);
   excludeNull = expr: filter isNotNull expr;
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ let
   toLuaBool = expr: if expr then "true" else "false";
   toLuaNumber = toString;
   toLuaString = expr:
-    let str = validString expr; in
+    let str = replaceStrings [ "\\" ] [ "\\\\" ] (validString expr); in
     let isLines = match ".*\n.*" str; in
     if isLines != null then "[[\n${str}]]" else "\"${str}\"";
   toLuaList = onValue: expr:
diff --git a/lib.test.nix b/lib.test.nix
index 34d1822..48c3b66 100644
--- a/lib.test.nix
+++ b/lib.test.nix
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ with nix2lua; pkgs.lib.runTests {
     expr = toLua "hello world";
     expected = ''"hello world"'';
   };
+  "test returns an escaped lua string" = {
+    expr = toLua ''\hello world'';
+    expected = ''"\\hello world"'';
+  };
   "test returns a multiline lua string" = {
     expr = toLua ''
       hello