diff --git a/module/VuFindSearch/src/VuFindSearch/Backend/Summon/Backend.php b/module/VuFindSearch/src/VuFindSearch/Backend/Summon/Backend.php
index 0ef8cab566674fa4d0d5331a7f6d49bc0b0c0e0c..ab506b4eece19ae6a98c9603237648f0ecc52f0e 100644
--- a/module/VuFindSearch/src/VuFindSearch/Backend/Summon/Backend.php
+++ b/module/VuFindSearch/src/VuFindSearch/Backend/Summon/Backend.php
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ namespace VuFindSearch\Backend\Summon;
 
 use SerialsSolutions\Summon\Zend2 as Connector;
 use SerialsSolutions_Summon_Query as SummonQuery;
+use SerialsSolutions_Summon_Exception as SummonException;
 
 use VuFindSearch\Query\AbstractQuery;
 
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ use VuFindSearch\Response\RecordCollectionInterface;
 use VuFindSearch\Response\RecordCollectionFactoryInterface;
 
 use VuFindSearch\Backend\BackendInterface;
+use VuFindSearch\Backend\Exception\BackendException;
 
 use Zend\Log\LoggerInterface;
 
@@ -139,7 +141,15 @@ class Backend implements BackendInterface
         $baseParams->set('pageNumber', $page);
 
         $summonQuery = $this->paramBagToSummonQuery($baseParams);
-        $response = $this->connector->query($summonQuery);
+        try {
+            $response = $this->connector->query($summonQuery);
+        } catch (SummonException $e) {
+            throw new BackendException(
+                $e->getMessage(),
+                $e->getCode(),
+                $e
+            );
+        }
         $collection = $this->createRecordCollection($response);
         $this->injectSourceIdentifier($collection);
         return $collection;
@@ -155,7 +165,15 @@ class Backend implements BackendInterface
      */
     public function retrieve($id, ParamBag $params = null)
     {
-        $response   = $this->connector->getRecord($id);
+        try {
+            $response   = $this->connector->getRecord($id);
+        } catch (SummonException $e) {
+            throw new BackendException(
+                $e->getMessage(),
+                $e->getCode(),
+                $e
+            );
+        }
         $collection = $this->createRecordCollection($response);
         $this->injectSourceIdentifier($collection);
         return $collection;
diff --git a/module/VuFindSearch/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/Backend/Summon/BackendTest.php b/module/VuFindSearch/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/Backend/Summon/BackendTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7a997ee78d4d2e079c7ec8fd260633eba2ed1621
--- /dev/null
+++ b/module/VuFindSearch/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/Backend/Summon/BackendTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for Summon Backend class.
+ *
+ * PHP version 5
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) Villanova University 2013.
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2,
+ * as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
+ *
+ * @category VuFind2
+ * @package  Search
+ * @author   David Maus <maus@hab.de>
+ * @license  http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php GNU General Public License
+ * @link     http://vufind.org
+ */
+
+namespace VuFindSearch\Backend\Summon;
+
+use VuFindSearch\Query\Query;
+
+use SerialsSolutions_Summon_Exception as SummonException;
+
+use PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase as TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for Summon Backend class.
+ *
+ * @category VuFind2
+ * @package  Search
+ * @author   David Maus <maus@hab.de>
+ * @license  http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php GNU General Public License
+ * @link     http://vufind.org
+ */
+class BackendTest extends TestCase
+{
+    protected function setup()
+    {
+        if (!class_exists('SerialsSolutions_Summon_Exception', true)) {
+            $this->markTestIncomplete('Unable to autoload class: SerialsSolutions\Summon\Exception');
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @expectedException VuFindSearch\Backend\Exception\BackendException
+     */
+    public function testRetrieveWrapsSummonException()
+    {
+        $fact = $this->getMock('VuFindSearch\Response\RecordCollectionFactoryInterface');
+        $conn = $this->getMock('SerialsSolutions\Summon\Zend2', array('getRecord'), array('id', 'key'));
+        $conn->expects($this->once())
+             ->method('getRecord')
+             ->will($this->throwException(new SummonException()));
+        $back = new Backend($conn, $fact);
+        $back->retrieve('id');
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @expectedException VuFindSearch\Backend\Exception\BackendException
+     */
+    public function testSearchWrapsSummonException()
+    {
+        $fact = $this->getMock('VuFindSearch\Response\RecordCollectionFactoryInterface');
+        $conn = $this->getMock('SerialsSolutions\Summon\Zend2', array('query'), array('id', 'key'));
+        $conn->expects($this->once())
+             ->method('query')
+             ->will($this->throwException(new SummonException()));
+        $back = new Backend($conn, $fact);
+        $back->search(new Query(), 1, 1);
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file