diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e2aba30..e21752a 100755
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ When reading files the API accepts several options:
 * `inferSchema`: automatically infers column types. It requires one extra pass over the data and is false by default
 * `comment`: skip lines beginning with this character. Default is `"#"`. Disable comments by setting this to `null`.
 * `codec`: compression codec to use when saving to file. Should be the fully qualified name of a class implementing `org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.CompressionCodec`. Defaults to no compression when a codec is not specified.
+* `nullValue`: specificy a string that indicates a null value, any fields matching this string will be set as nulls in the DataFrame
 
 The package also support saving simple (non-nested) DataFrame. When saving you can specify the delimiter and whether we should generate a header row for the table. See following examples for more details.
 
@@ -109,7 +110,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.types.{StructType, StructField, StringType, IntegerT
 
 val sqlContext = new SQLContext(sc)
 val customSchema = StructType(
-    StructField("year", IntegerType, true), 
+    StructField("year", IntegerType, true),
     StructField("make", StringType, true),
     StructField("model", StringType, true),
     StructField("comment", StringType, true),
@@ -155,7 +156,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.SQLContext
 
 val sqlContext = new SQLContext(sc)
 val df = sqlContext.load(
-    "com.databricks.spark.csv", 
+    "com.databricks.spark.csv",
     Map("path" -> "cars.csv", "header" -> "true", "inferSchema" -> "true"))
 val selectedData = df.select("year", "model")
 selectedData.save("newcars.csv", "com.databricks.spark.csv")
@@ -168,14 +169,14 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.types.{StructType, StructField, StringType, IntegerT
 
 val sqlContext = new SQLContext(sc)
 val customSchema = StructType(
-    StructField("year", IntegerType, true), 
+    StructField("year", IntegerType, true),
     StructField("make", StringType, true),
     StructField("model", StringType, true),
     StructField("comment", StringType, true),
     StructField("blank", StringType, true))
 
 val df = sqlContext.load(
-    "com.databricks.spark.csv", 
+    "com.databricks.spark.csv",
     schema = customSchema,
     Map("path" -> "cars.csv", "header" -> "true"))
 
@@ -210,7 +211,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.types.*;
 
 SQLContext sqlContext = new SQLContext(sc);
 StructType customSchema = new StructType(new StructField[] {
-    new StructField("year", DataTypes.IntegerType, true, Metadata.empty()), 
+    new StructField("year", DataTypes.IntegerType, true, Metadata.empty()),
     new StructField("make", DataTypes.StringType, true, Metadata.empty()),
     new StructField("model", DataTypes.StringType, true, Metadata.empty()),
     new StructField("comment", DataTypes.StringType, true, Metadata.empty()),
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvParser.scala b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvParser.scala
index 0a2f914..370ab3c 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvParser.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvParser.scala
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ class CsvParser extends Serializable {
   private var charset: String = TextFile.DEFAULT_CHARSET.name()
   private var inferSchema: Boolean = false
   private var codec: String = null
+  private var nullValue: String = ""
 
   def withUseHeader(flag: Boolean): CsvParser = {
     this.useHeader = flag
@@ -111,6 +112,11 @@ class CsvParser extends Serializable {
     this
   }
 
+  def withNullValue(nullValue: String): CsvParser = {
+    this.nullValue = nullValue
+    this
+  }
+
   /** Returns a Schema RDD for the given CSV path. */
   @throws[RuntimeException]
   def csvFile(sqlContext: SQLContext, path: String): DataFrame = {
@@ -129,7 +135,8 @@ class CsvParser extends Serializable {
       treatEmptyValuesAsNulls,
       schema,
       inferSchema,
-      codec)(sqlContext)
+      codec,
+      nullValue)(sqlContext)
     sqlContext.baseRelationToDataFrame(relation)
   }
 
@@ -149,7 +156,8 @@ class CsvParser extends Serializable {
       treatEmptyValuesAsNulls,
       schema,
       inferSchema,
-      codec)(sqlContext)
+      codec,
+      nullValue)(sqlContext)
     sqlContext.baseRelationToDataFrame(relation)
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvRelation.scala b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvRelation.scala
index dcab9c8..5a09176 100755
--- a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvRelation.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvRelation.scala
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ case class CsvRelation protected[spark] (
     treatEmptyValuesAsNulls: Boolean,
     userSchema: StructType = null,
     inferCsvSchema: Boolean,
-    codec: String = null)(@transient val sqlContext: SQLContext)
+    codec: String = null,
+    nullValue: String = "")(@transient val sqlContext: SQLContext)
   extends BaseRelation with TableScan with PrunedScan with InsertableRelation {
 
   /**
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ case class CsvRelation protected[spark] (
           while (index < schemaFields.length) {
             val field = schemaFields(index)
             rowArray(index) = TypeCast.castTo(tokens(index), field.dataType, field.nullable,
-              treatEmptyValuesAsNulls)
+              treatEmptyValuesAsNulls, nullValue)
             index = index + 1
           }
           Some(Row.fromSeq(rowArray))
@@ -189,7 +190,9 @@ case class CsvRelation protected[spark] (
                 indexSafeTokens(index),
                 field.dataType,
                 field.nullable,
-                treatEmptyValuesAsNulls)
+                treatEmptyValuesAsNulls,
+                nullValue
+              )
               subIndex = subIndex + 1
             }
             Some(Row.fromSeq(rowArray.take(requiredSize)))
@@ -235,7 +238,7 @@ case class CsvRelation protected[spark] (
         firstRow.zipWithIndex.map { case (value, index) => s"C$index"}
       }
       if (this.inferCsvSchema) {
-        InferSchema(tokenRdd(header), header)
+        InferSchema(tokenRdd(header), header, nullValue)
       } else {
         // By default fields are assumed to be StringType
         val schemaFields = header.map { fieldName =>
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/DefaultSource.scala b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/DefaultSource.scala
index 13abf04..c2e1481 100755
--- a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/DefaultSource.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/DefaultSource.scala
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ class DefaultSource
     } else {
       throw new Exception("Infer schema flag can be true or false")
     }
+    val nullValue = parameters.getOrElse("nullValue", "")
 
     val codec = parameters.getOrElse("codec", null)
 
@@ -154,7 +155,8 @@ class DefaultSource
       treatEmptyValuesAsNullsFlag,
       schema,
       inferSchemaFlag,
-      codec)(sqlContext)
+      codec,
+      nullValue)(sqlContext)
   }
 
   override def createRelation(
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/InferSchema.scala b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/InferSchema.scala
index 0fef690..cc88f51 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/InferSchema.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/InferSchema.scala
@@ -30,10 +30,15 @@ private[csv] object InferSchema {
    *     2. Merge row types to find common type
    *     3. Replace any null types with string type
    */
-  def apply(tokenRdd: RDD[Array[String]], header: Array[String]): StructType = {
+  def apply(
+    tokenRdd: RDD[Array[String]],
+    header: Array[String],
+    nullValue: String = ""): StructType = {
 
     val startType: Array[DataType] = Array.fill[DataType](header.length)(NullType)
-    val rootTypes: Array[DataType] = tokenRdd.aggregate(startType)(inferRowType, mergeRowTypes)
+    val rootTypes: Array[DataType] = tokenRdd.aggregate(startType)(
+      inferRowType(nullValue),
+      mergeRowTypes)
 
     val stuctFields = header.zip(rootTypes).map { case (thisHeader, rootType) =>
       StructField(thisHeader, rootType, nullable = true)
@@ -42,10 +47,11 @@ private[csv] object InferSchema {
     StructType(stuctFields)
   }
 
-  private def inferRowType(rowSoFar: Array[DataType], next: Array[String]): Array[DataType] = {
+  private def inferRowType(nullValue: String)
+  (rowSoFar: Array[DataType], next: Array[String]): Array[DataType] = {
     var i = 0
     while (i < math.min(rowSoFar.length, next.length)) {  // May have columns on right missing.
-      rowSoFar(i) = inferField(rowSoFar(i), next(i))
+      rowSoFar(i) = inferField(rowSoFar(i), next(i), nullValue)
       i+=1
     }
     rowSoFar
@@ -67,8 +73,10 @@ private[csv] object InferSchema {
    * Infer type of string field. Given known type Double, and a string "1", there is no
    * point checking if it is an Int, as the final type must be Double or higher.
    */
-  private[csv] def inferField(typeSoFar: DataType, field: String): DataType = {
-    if (field == null || field.isEmpty) {
+  private[csv] def inferField(typeSoFar: DataType,
+    field: String,
+    nullValue: String = ""): DataType = {
+    if (field == null || field.isEmpty || field == nullValue) {
       typeSoFar
     } else {
       typeSoFar match {
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCast.scala b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCast.scala
index 226eafd..edecf97 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCast.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCast.scala
@@ -43,8 +43,15 @@ object TypeCast {
       datum: String,
       castType: DataType,
       nullable: Boolean = true,
-      treatEmptyValuesAsNulls: Boolean = false): Any = {
-    if (datum == "" && nullable && (!castType.isInstanceOf[StringType] || treatEmptyValuesAsNulls)){
+      treatEmptyValuesAsNulls: Boolean = false,
+      nullValue: String = ""): Any = {
+    // if nullValue is not an empty string, don't require treatEmptyValuesAsNulls
+    // to be set to true
+    val nullValueIsNotEmpty = nullValue != ""
+    if (datum == nullValue &&
+      nullable &&
+      (!castType.isInstanceOf[StringType] || treatEmptyValuesAsNulls || nullValueIsNotEmpty)
+      ){
       null
     } else {
       castType match {
diff --git a/src/test/resources/null_null_numbers.csv b/src/test/resources/null_null_numbers.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d020d9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/null_null_numbers.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+name,age
+alice,35
+bob,null
+null,24
diff --git a/src/test/resources/null_slashn_numbers.csv b/src/test/resources/null_slashn_numbers.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4068ca8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/null_slashn_numbers.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+name,age
+alice,35
+bob,\N
+\N,24
diff --git a/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvSuite.scala b/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvSuite.scala
index 9acc7f3..6fddab5 100755
--- a/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvSuite.scala
+++ b/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvSuite.scala
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ abstract class AbstractCsvSuite extends FunSuite with BeforeAndAfterAll {
   val carsAltFile = "src/test/resources/cars-alternative.csv"
   val carsUnbalancedQuotesFile = "src/test/resources/cars-unbalanced-quotes.csv"
   val nullNumbersFile = "src/test/resources/null-numbers.csv"
+  val nullNullNumbersFile = "src/test/resources/null_null_numbers.csv"
+  val nullSlashNNumbersFile = "src/test/resources/null_slashn_numbers.csv"
   val emptyFile = "src/test/resources/empty.csv"
   val ageFile = "src/test/resources/ages.csv"
   val escapeFile = "src/test/resources/escape.csv"
@@ -572,6 +574,36 @@ abstract class AbstractCsvSuite extends FunSuite with BeforeAndAfterAll {
     assert(results(2).toSeq === Seq("", 24))
   }
 
+  test("DSL test nullable fields with user defined null value of \"null\"") {
+    val results = new CsvParser()
+      .withSchema(StructType(List(StructField("name", StringType, false),
+                                  StructField("age", IntegerType, true))))
+      .withUseHeader(true)
+      .withParserLib(parserLib)
+      .withNullValue("null")
+      .csvFile(sqlContext, nullNullNumbersFile)
+      .collect()
+
+    assert(results.head.toSeq === Seq("alice", 35))
+    assert(results(1).toSeq === Seq("bob", null))
+    assert(results(2).toSeq === Seq("null", 24))
+  }
+
+  test("DSL test nullable fields with user defined null value of \"\\N\"") {
+    val results = new CsvParser()
+      .withSchema(StructType(List(StructField("name", StringType, false),
+                                  StructField("age", IntegerType, true))))
+      .withUseHeader(true)
+      .withParserLib(parserLib)
+      .withNullValue("\\N")
+      .csvFile(sqlContext, nullSlashNNumbersFile)
+      .collect()
+
+    assert(results.head.toSeq === Seq("alice", 35))
+    assert(results(1).toSeq === Seq("bob", null))
+    assert(results(2).toSeq === Seq("\\N", 24))
+  }
+
   test("Commented lines in CSV data") {
     val results: Array[Row] = new CsvParser()
       .withDelimiter(',')
diff --git a/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/InferSchemaSuite.scala b/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/InferSchemaSuite.scala
index 1d43c06..d713649 100644
--- a/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/InferSchemaSuite.scala
+++ b/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/InferSchemaSuite.scala
@@ -15,6 +15,15 @@ class InferSchemaSuite extends FunSuite {
     assert(InferSchema.inferField(NullType, "2015-08-20 15:57:00") == TimestampType)
   }
 
+  test("Null fields are handled properly when a nullValue is specified") {
+    assert(InferSchema.inferField(NullType, "null", "null") == NullType)
+    assert(InferSchema.inferField(StringType, "null", "null") == StringType)
+    assert(InferSchema.inferField(LongType, "null", "null") == LongType)
+    assert(InferSchema.inferField(IntegerType, "\\N", "\\N") == IntegerType)
+    assert(InferSchema.inferField(DoubleType, "\\N", "\\N") == DoubleType)
+    assert(InferSchema.inferField(TimestampType, "\\N", "\\N") == TimestampType)
+  }
+
   test("String fields types are inferred correctly from other types") {
     assert(InferSchema.inferField(LongType, "1.0") == DoubleType)
     assert(InferSchema.inferField(LongType, "test") == StringType)
diff --git a/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCastSuite.scala b/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCastSuite.scala
index f2e93fc..b8e6e71 100644
--- a/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCastSuite.scala
+++ b/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCastSuite.scala
@@ -94,4 +94,13 @@ class TypeCastSuite extends FunSuite {
     assert(TypeCast.castTo("1,00", FloatType) == 1.0)
     assert(TypeCast.castTo("1,00", DoubleType) == 1.0)
   }
+
+  test("Can handle mapping user specified nullValues") {
+    assert(TypeCast.castTo("null", StringType, true, false, "null") == null)
+    assert(TypeCast.castTo("\\N", ByteType, true, false, "\\N") == null)
+    assert(TypeCast.castTo("", ShortType, true, false) == null)
+    assert(TypeCast.castTo("null", StringType, true, true, "null") == null)
+    assert(TypeCast.castTo("", StringType, true, false, "") == "")
+    assert(TypeCast.castTo("", StringType, true, true, "") == null)
+  }
 }