diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py b/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
index c2cb06bb..f7a9047f 100755
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/__main__.py
@@ -278,6 +278,13 @@ preprocessing.add_argument(
     help="Clean page as above, and incorporate the cleaned image in the final "
     "PDF.  Might remove desired content.",
 )
+preprocessing.add_argument(
+    '--unpaper-args',
+    type=str,
+    default=None,
+    help="A quoted string of arguments to pass to unpaper. Requires --clean. "
+    "Example: --unpaper-args '--layout double'.",
+)
 preprocessing.add_argument(
     '--oversample',
     metavar='DPI',
@@ -623,12 +630,23 @@ def _optional_program_recommended(name, version_fn, min_version, for_argument):
 
 
 def check_options_preprocessing(options, log):
+    if options.unpaper_args and not options.clean:
+        raise argparse.ArgumentError(
+            None, "--clean is required for --unpaper-args"
+        )
     if any((options.clean, options.clean_final)):
         from .exec import unpaper
 
         _optional_program_required(
             'unpaper', unpaper.version, '6.1', '--clean, --clean-final'
         )
+        try:
+            if options.unpaper_args:
+                options.unpaper_args = unpaper.validate_custom_args(
+                    options.unpaper_args
+                )
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise argparse.ArgumentError(None, str(e))
 
 
 def check_options_ocr_behavior(options, log):
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py b/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
index 4fe52970..abe90f9c 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/_pipeline.py
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@ def preprocess_clean(input_file, output_file, log, context):
     pageinfo = get_pageinfo(input_file, context)
     dpi = get_page_square_dpi(pageinfo, options)
 
-    unpaper.clean(input_file, output_file, dpi, log)
+    unpaper.clean(input_file, output_file, dpi, log, options.unpaper_args)
 
 
 def select_ocr_image(infiles, output_file, log, context):
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/exec/unpaper.py b/src/ocrmypdf/exec/unpaper.py
index 87104f99..40c79594 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/exec/unpaper.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/exec/unpaper.py
@@ -19,13 +19,15 @@
 # https://github.com/Flameeyes/unpaper/blob/master/doc/basic-concepts.md
 
 import os
+import shlex
+import subprocess
 import sys
 from functools import lru_cache
-from subprocess import STDOUT, CalledProcessError, check_output
-from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
+from subprocess import PIPE, STDOUT, CalledProcessError
+from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 
 from . import get_version
-from ..exceptions import MissingDependencyError
+from ..exceptions import MissingDependencyError, SubprocessOutputError
 
 try:
     from PIL import Image
@@ -64,43 +66,64 @@ def run(input_file, output_file, dpi, log, mode_args):
         im.close()
         raise MissingDependencyError() from e
 
-    with NamedTemporaryFile(suffix=suffix) as input_pnm, NamedTemporaryFile(
-        suffix=suffix, mode="r+b"
-    ) as output_pnm:
+    with TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+        input_pnm = os.path.join(tmpdir, f'input{suffix}')
+        output_pnm = os.path.join(tmpdir, f'output{suffix}')
         im.save(input_pnm, format='PPM')
         im.close()
 
-        os.unlink(output_pnm.name)
-
-        args_unpaper.extend([input_pnm.name, output_pnm.name])
+        # To prevent any shenanigans from accepting arbitrary parameters in
+        # --unpaper-args, we:
+        # 1) run with cwd set to a tmpdir with only unpaper's files
+        # 2) forbid the use of '/' in arguments, to prevent changing paths
+        # 3) append absolute paths for the input and output file
+        # This should ensure that a user cannot clobber some other file with
+        # their unpaper arguments (whether intentionally or otherwise)
+        args_unpaper.extend([input_pnm, output_pnm])
         try:
-            stdout = check_output(
-                args_unpaper, close_fds=True, universal_newlines=True, stderr=STDOUT
+            proc = subprocess.run(
+                args_unpaper,
+                check=True,
+                close_fds=True,
+                universal_newlines=True,
+                stderr=STDOUT,
+                cwd=tmpdir,
+                stdout=PIPE,
             )
         except CalledProcessError as e:
             log.debug(e.output)
             raise e from e
         else:
-            log.debug(stdout)
-            # unpaper sets dpi to 72
-            Image.open(output_pnm.name).save(output_file, dpi=(dpi, dpi))
+            log.debug(proc.stdout)
+            # unpaper sets dpi to 72; fix this
+            try:
+                Image.open(output_pnm).save(output_file, dpi=(dpi, dpi))
+            except (FileNotFoundError, OSError):
+                raise SubprocessOutputError(
+                    "unpaper: failed to produce the expected output file. Called with: "
+                    + str(args_unpaper)
+                ) from None
 
 
-def clean(input_file, output_file, dpi, log):
-    run(
-        input_file,
-        output_file,
-        dpi,
-        log,
-        [
-            '--layout',
-            'none',
-            '--mask-scan-size',
-            '100',  # don't blank out narrow columns
-            '--no-border-align',  # don't align visible content to borders
-            '--no-mask-center',  # don't center visible content within page
-            '--no-grayfilter',  # don't remove light gray areas
-            '--no-blackfilter',  # don't remove solid black areas
-            '--no-deskew',  # don't deskew
-        ],
-    )
+def validate_custom_args(args: str):
+    unpaper_args = shlex.split(args)
+    if any('/' in arg for arg in unpaper_args):
+        raise ValueError('No filenames allowed in --unpaper-args')
+    return unpaper_args
+
+
+def clean(input_file, output_file, dpi, log, unpaper_args=None):
+    default_args = [
+        '--layout',
+        'none',
+        '--mask-scan-size',
+        '100',  # don't blank out narrow columns
+        '--no-border-align',  # don't align visible content to borders
+        '--no-mask-center',  # don't center visible content within page
+        '--no-grayfilter',  # don't remove light gray areas
+        '--no-blackfilter',  # don't remove solid black areas
+        '--no-deskew',  # don't deskew
+    ]
+    if not unpaper_args:
+        unpaper_args = default_args
+    run(input_file, output_file, dpi, log, unpaper_args)
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 61a0f922..d68a6b23 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ def no_outpdf(tmpdir):
 
 @pytest.helpers.register
 def check_ocrmypdf(input_file, output_file, *args, env=None):
-    "Run ocrmypdf and confirmed that a valid file was created"
+    """Run ocrmypdf and confirmed that a valid file was created"""
 
     p, out, err = run_ocrmypdf(input_file, output_file, *args, env=env)
     # ensure py.test collects the output, use -s to view
diff --git a/tests/test_unpaper.py b/tests/test_unpaper.py
index 62f06656..23f6d698 100644
--- a/tests/test_unpaper.py
+++ b/tests/test_unpaper.py
@@ -15,11 +15,16 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with OCRmyPDF.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+import argparse
+from os import fspath
 from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
 
+from ocrmypdf import __main__ as main
 from ocrmypdf.exceptions import ExitCode
+from ocrmypdf.exec import unpaper
 
 # pytest.helpers is dynamic
 # pylint: disable=no-member
@@ -30,26 +35,79 @@ run_ocrmypdf = pytest.helpers.run_ocrmypdf
 spoof = pytest.helpers.spoof
 
 
-@pytest.fixture(scope='session')
+def have_unpaper():
+    try:
+        unpaper.version()
+    except Exception:
+        return False
+    else:
+        return True
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
 def spoof_unpaper_oldversion(tmpdir_factory):
-    return spoof(tmpdir_factory, unpaper='unpaper_oldversion.py')
+    return spoof(tmpdir_factory, unpaper="unpaper_oldversion.py")
 
 
-@pytest.mark.skipif(True, reason="needs new fixture implementation")
 def test_no_unpaper(resources, no_outpdf):
-    # <disable unpaper here>
-    p, out, err = run_ocrmypdf(
-        resources / 'c02-22.pdf', no_outpdf, '--clean', env=os.environ
-    )
-    assert p.returncode == ExitCode.missing_dependency
+    input_ = fspath(resources / "c02-22.pdf")
+    output = fspath(no_outpdf)
+    options = main.parser.parse_args(args=["--clean", input_, output])
+
+    with patch("ocrmypdf.exec.unpaper.version") as mock_unpaper_version:
+        mock_unpaper_version.side_effect = FileNotFoundError("unpaper")
+        with pytest.raises(SystemExit):
+            main.check_options(options, log=MagicMock())
 
 
 def test_old_unpaper(spoof_unpaper_oldversion, resources, no_outpdf):
     p, out, err = run_ocrmypdf(
-        resources / 'c02-22.pdf', no_outpdf, '--clean', env=spoof_unpaper_oldversion
+        resources / "c02-22.pdf", no_outpdf, "--clean", env=spoof_unpaper_oldversion
     )
     assert p.returncode == ExitCode.missing_dependency
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not have_unpaper(), reason="requires unpaper")
 def test_clean(spoof_tesseract_noop, resources, outpdf):
-    check_ocrmypdf(resources / 'skew.pdf', outpdf, '-c', env=spoof_tesseract_noop)
+    check_ocrmypdf(resources / "skew.pdf", outpdf, "-c", env=spoof_tesseract_noop)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not have_unpaper(), reason="requires unpaper")
+def test_unpaper_args_valid(spoof_tesseract_noop, resources, outpdf):
+    check_ocrmypdf(
+        resources / "skew.pdf",
+        outpdf,
+        "-c",
+        "--unpaper-args",
+        "--layout double",  # Spaces required here
+        env=spoof_tesseract_noop,
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not have_unpaper(), reason="requires unpaper")
+def test_unpaper_args_invalid_filename(spoof_tesseract_noop, resources, outpdf):
+    p, out, err = run_ocrmypdf(
+        resources / "skew.pdf",
+        outpdf,
+        "-c",
+        "--unpaper-args",
+        "/etc/passwd",
+        env=spoof_tesseract_noop,
+    )
+    assert "No filenames allowed" in err
+    assert p.returncode == ExitCode.bad_args
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not have_unpaper(), reason="requires unpaper")
+def test_unpaper_args_invalid(spoof_tesseract_noop, resources, outpdf):
+    p, out, err = run_ocrmypdf(
+        resources / "skew.pdf",
+        outpdf,
+        "-c",
+        "--unpaper-args",
+        "unpaper is not going to like these arguments",
+        env=spoof_tesseract_noop,
+    )
+    # Can't tell difference between unpaper choking on bad arguments or some
+    # other unpaper failure
+    assert p.returncode == ExitCode.child_process_error