diff --git a/Changelog b/Changelog
index 995b725..0369555 100644
--- a/Changelog
+++ b/Changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2.54	- fixed rt.cpan.org#39814. changed the order of pre-processing
+	  in _read(): 1) remove comments, 2) check for continuation,
+	  3) remove empty lines.
+
 2.53    - applied patch rt.cpan.org#68153, which adds a find() method to
 	  Config::General::Extended.
 
diff --git a/General.pm b/General.pm
index 2102022..d0af0b4 100644
--- a/General.pm
+++ b/General.pm
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ use Carp::Heavy;
 use Carp;
 use Exporter;
 
-$Config::General::VERSION = "2.53";
+$Config::General::VERSION = "2.54";
 
 use vars  qw(@ISA @EXPORT_OK);
 use base qw(Exporter);
@@ -632,12 +632,12 @@ sub _read {
     # Remove comments and empty lines
     s/(?<!\\)#.*$//; # .+ => .* bugfix rt.cpan.org#44600
     next if /^\s*#/;
-    next if /^\s*$/;
+    #next if /^\s*$/;
 
 
     # look for multiline option, indicated by a trailing backslash
     if (/(?<!\\)\\$/) {
-      chop;
+      chop; # remove trailing backslash
       s/^\s*//;
       $longline .= $_;
       next;
@@ -706,6 +706,9 @@ sub _read {
       next;
     }
     else {
+      # ignore empty lines
+      next if /^\s*$/;
+
       # look for include statement(s)
       my $incl_file;
       my $path = '';
@@ -2745,7 +2748,7 @@ Thomas Linden <tlinden |AT| cpan.org>
 
 =head1 VERSION
 
-2.53
+2.54
 
 =cut
 
diff --git a/README b/README
index ea5354a..2a62d38 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -80,11 +80,11 @@ UPDATE
 COPYRIGHT
        Config::General
        Config::General::Extended
-           Copyright (c) 2000-2007 by Thomas Linden <tom@daemon.de>
+           Copyright (c) 2000-2014 by Thomas Linden <tom@daemon.de>
 
        Config::General::Interpolated
            Copyright (c) 2001 by Wei-Hon Chen <plasmaball@pchome.com.tw>
-	   Copyright (c) 2002-2007 by Thomas Linden <tom@daemon.de>.
+	   Copyright (c) 2002-2014 by Thomas Linden <tom@daemon.de>.
 
        This library is free software; you can redistribute it
        and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
@@ -104,4 +104,4 @@ AUTHOR
 
 
 VERSION
-	2.50
+	2.54
diff --git a/t/cfg.55 b/t/cfg.55
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dab0a52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/cfg.55
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+a = 1
+
+b = nochop\
+
+c = should stay alone
diff --git a/t/run.t b/t/run.t
index 9609462..c504d6c 100644
--- a/t/run.t
+++ b/t/run.t
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 
 use Data::Dumper;
-use Test::More tests => 70;
+use Test::More tests => 71;
 #use Test::More qw(no_plan);
 
 # ahem, we deliver the test code with a local copy of
@@ -737,3 +737,8 @@ ok( !@WARNINGS_FOUND, "No unexpected warnings seen" );
 my $cfg54 = new Config::General(-NoEscape => 1, -String => qq(val = \\\$notavar:\\blah\n));
 my %hash54 = $cfg54->getall();
 is($hash54{val}, qq(\\\$notavar:\\blah), "check -NoEscape");
+
+# check for line continuation followed by empty line (rt.cpan.org#39814)
+my $cfg55 = new Config::General( -ConfigFile => "t/cfg.55" );
+my %hash55 = $cfg55->getall();
+is($hash55{b}, "nochop", "check continuation followed by empty line");