diff --git a/gh-md-toc b/gh-md-toc
index bce5271..fa203d9 100755
--- a/gh-md-toc
+++ b/gh-md-toc
@@ -83,10 +83,11 @@ gh_toc_md2html() {
         -H "Content-Type:text/plain" \
         -H "$AUTHORIZATION" \
         "$URL")
+    local curl_status=$?
 
     rm -f "${gh_file_md}~~"
 
-    if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
+    if [ "$curl_status" != "0" ]; then
         echo "XXNetworkErrorXX"
     fi
     if [ "$(echo "${OUTPUT}" | awk '/API rate limit exceeded/')" != "" ]; then
diff --git a/tests/tests.bats b/tests/tests.bats
index f8b0443..b7b60b5 100755
--- a/tests/tests.bats
+++ b/tests/tests.bats
@@ -233,3 +233,12 @@ test_help() {
     assert_equal "${lines[8]}"   "* [Title four is a particularly long title because of wrapping](#title-four-is-a-particularly-long-title-because-of-wrapping)"
     assert_equal "${lines[9]}"   "   * [This is a test for long titles](#this-is-a-test-for-long-titles)"
 }
+
+@test "Error for local file without network access" {
+    # route curl through a closed port to simulate a network failure
+    HTTPS_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:9 run $BATS_TEST_DIRNAME/../gh-md-toc tests/test\ directory/test_plussign.md
+    assert_fail
+
+    assert_equal "${lines[2]}"   "Parsing local markdown file requires access to github API"
+    assert_equal "${lines[3]}"   "Please make sure curl is installed and check your network connectivity"
+}