diff --git a/hts-sys/wrapper.h b/hts-sys/wrapper.h
index 46f4fea2d..8f9161995 100644
--- a/hts-sys/wrapper.h
+++ b/hts-sys/wrapper.h
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include "htslib/htslib/tbx.h"
 #include "htslib/htslib/synced_bcf_reader.h"
 #include "htslib/htslib/kbitset.h"
+#include "htslib/htslib/faidx.h"
 
 
 // The following functions have to be wrapped here because they are inline in htslib.
diff --git a/src/faidx/errors.rs b/src/faidx/errors.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..da717ec46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/faidx/errors.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+use snafu::Snafu;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+pub type Result<T, E = Error> = std::result::Result<T, E>;
+
+#[derive(Snafu, Debug, PartialEq)]
+#[snafu(visibility = "pub")]
+pub enum Error {
+    #[snafu(display("file not found: {}", path.display()))]
+    FileNotFound { path: PathBuf },
+    #[snafu(display("invalid (non-unique) characters in path"))]
+    NonUnicodePath,
+}
diff --git a/src/faidx/mod.rs b/src/faidx/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8b3f81912
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/faidx/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+// Copyright 2019 Manuel Landesfeind, Evotec International GmbH
+// Licensed under the MIT license (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
+// This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
+// except according to those terms.
+
+//!
+//! Module for working with faidx-indexed FASTA files.
+//!
+
+use std::ffi;
+use std::path::Path;
+use url::Url;
+
+use crate::htslib;
+
+pub mod errors;
+pub use errors::{Error, Result};
+
+fn path_as_bytes<'a, P: 'a + AsRef<Path>>(path: P, must_exist: bool) -> Result<Vec<u8>> {
+    if path.as_ref().exists() || !must_exist {
+        Ok(path
+            .as_ref()
+            .to_str()
+            .ok_or(Error::NonUnicodePath)?
+            .as_bytes()
+            .to_owned())
+    } else {
+        Err(Error::FileNotFound {
+            path: path.as_ref().to_owned(),
+        })
+    }
+}
+/// A Fasta reader.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct Reader {
+    inner: *mut htslib::faidx_t,
+}
+
+impl Reader {
+    /// Create a new Reader from path.
+    ///
+    /// # Arguments
+    ///
+    /// * `path` - the path to open.
+    pub fn from_path<P: AsRef<Path>>(path: P) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+        Self::new(&path_as_bytes(path, true)?)
+    }
+
+    /// Create a new Reader from URL.
+    pub fn from_url(url: &Url) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+        Self::new(url.as_str().as_bytes())
+    }
+
+    /// Create a new Reader.
+    ///
+    /// # Arguments
+    ///
+    /// * `path` - the path to open
+    fn new(path: &[u8]) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+        let cpath = ffi::CString::new(path).unwrap();
+        let inner = unsafe { htslib::fai_load(cpath.as_ptr()) };
+        Ok(Self { inner })
+    }
+
+    /// Fetches the sequence and returns it
+    ///
+    /// # Arguments
+    ///
+    /// * `name` - the name of the template sequence (e.g., "chr1")
+    /// * `begin` - the offset within the template sequence (starting with 0)
+    /// * `end` - the end position to return
+    pub fn fetch_seq<N: AsRef<str>>(&self, name: N, begin: usize, end: usize) -> String {
+        let cname = ffi::CString::new(name.as_ref().as_bytes()).unwrap();
+        let len_out: i32 = 0;
+        let cseq = unsafe {
+            let ptr = htslib::faidx_fetch_seq(
+                self.inner,                              //*const faidx_t,
+                cname.as_ptr(),                          // c_name
+                begin as ::std::os::raw::c_int,          // p_beg_i
+                end as ::std::os::raw::c_int,            // p_end_i
+                &mut (len_out as ::std::os::raw::c_int), //len
+            );
+            ffi::CStr::from_ptr(ptr)
+        };
+
+        cseq.to_str().unwrap().to_owned()
+    }
+}
+
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+	use super::*;
+
+	fn open_reader() -> Reader {
+		Reader::from_path(format!("{}/test/test_cram.fa", env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))).ok().unwrap()
+	}
+
+	#[test]
+	fn faidx_open() {
+	}
+
+	#[test]
+	fn faidx_read_chr_first_base() {
+		let r = open_reader();
+		let seq = r.fetch_seq("chr1", 0 , 0);
+		assert_eq!(seq.len(), 1);
+		assert_eq!(seq, "G");
+	}
+
+	#[test]
+	fn faidx_read_chr_start() {
+		let r = open_reader();
+		let seq = r.fetch_seq("chr1", 0 , 9);
+		assert_eq!(seq.len(), 10);
+		assert_eq!(seq, "GGGCACAGCC");
+	}
+
+	#[test]
+	fn faidx_read_chr_between() {
+		let r = open_reader();
+		let seq = r.fetch_seq("chr1", 4 , 14);
+		assert_eq!(seq.len(), 11);
+		assert_eq!(seq, "ACAGCCTCACC");
+	}
+
+	#[test]
+	fn faidx_read_chr_end() {
+		let r = open_reader();
+		let seq = r.fetch_seq("chr1", 110, 120);
+		assert_eq!(seq.len(), 10);
+		assert_eq!(seq, "CCCCTCCGTG");
+	}
+
+	#[test]
+	fn faidx_read_twice() {
+		let r = open_reader();
+		let seq = r.fetch_seq("chr1", 110, 120);
+		assert_eq!(seq.len(), 10);
+		assert_eq!(seq, "CCCCTCCGTG");
+
+		let seq = r.fetch_seq("chr1", 5, 9);
+		assert_eq!(seq.len(), 5);
+		assert_eq!(seq, "CAGCC");
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 9dbcc350b..3a251c2c0 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ extern crate snafu;
 
 pub mod bam;
 pub mod bcf;
+pub mod faidx;
 pub mod htslib;
 pub mod tbx;
-pub mod utils;
+mod utils;