diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9257c1d..5da76e2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## 5.4.0 (under development)
 
+* Added the `connection_handler` to `LaterPayClient` to simplify connection
+  pooling.
+
 ## 5.3.1
 
 * Only passed one of `lptoken` and `muid` to `/access` calls. Passing both is
diff --git a/laterpay/__init__.py b/laterpay/__init__.py
index 6fb563a..45417c3 100644
--- a/laterpay/__init__.py
+++ b/laterpay/__init__.py
@@ -112,7 +112,8 @@ class LaterPayClient(object):
                  api_root='https://api.laterpay.net',
                  web_root='https://web.laterpay.net',
                  lptoken=None,
-                 timeout_seconds=10):
+                 timeout_seconds=10,
+                 connection_handler=None):
         """
         Instantiate a LaterPay API client.
 
@@ -122,6 +123,9 @@ class LaterPayClient(object):
 
         :param timeout_seconds: number of seconds after which backend api
             requests (e.g. /access) will time out (10 by default).
+        :param connection_handler: Defaults to Python requests. Set it to
+            ``requests.Session()`` to use a `Python requests Session object
+            <http://docs.python-requests.org/en/master/user/advanced/#session-objects>`_.
 
         """
         self.cp_key = cp_key
@@ -130,6 +134,7 @@ class LaterPayClient(object):
         self.shared_secret = shared_secret
         self.lptoken = lptoken
         self.timeout_seconds = timeout_seconds
+        self.connection_handler = connection_handler or requests
 
     def get_gettoken_redirect(self, return_to):
         """
@@ -408,9 +413,9 @@ class LaterPayClient(object):
         """
         Perform a request to /access API and return obtained data.
 
-        This method uses ``requests.get`` to fetch the data and then calls
-        ``.raise_for_status()`` on the response. It does not handle any errors
-        raised by ``requests`` API.
+        This method uses ``requests.get`` or ``requests.Session().get`` to
+        fetch the data and then calls ``.raise_for_status()`` on the response.
+        It does not handle any errors raised by ``requests`` API.
 
         :param article_ids: list of article ids or a single article id as a
                             string
@@ -421,7 +426,7 @@ class LaterPayClient(object):
         url = self.get_access_url()
         headers = self.get_request_headers()
 
-        response = requests.get(
+        response = self.connection_handler.get(
             url,
             params=params,
             headers=headers,

Added support for `requests.Session`
Sometimes it's desirable to use [`requests.Session()`](http://docs.python-requests.org/en/master/user/advanced/#session-objects) over `requests.get()`.
diff --git a/tests/test_client.py b/tests/test_client.py
index bc9e37f..f59f98b 100644
--- a/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_client.py
@@ -427,6 +427,34 @@ class TestLaterPayClient(unittest.TestCase):
             method='GET',
         )
 
+    @mock.patch('time.time')
+    def test_get_access_data_connection_handler(self, time_time_mock):
+        time_time_mock.return_value = 123
+        connection_handler = mock.Mock()
+        client = LaterPayClient(
+            'fake-cp-key',
+            'fake-shared-secret',
+            connection_handler=connection_handler,
+        )
+
+        client.get_access_data(
+            ['article-1', 'article-2'],
+            lptoken='fake-lptoken',
+        )
+
+        connection_handler.get.assert_called_once_with(
+            'https://api.laterpay.net/access',
+            headers=client.get_request_headers(),
+            params={
+                'article_id': ['article-1', 'article-2'],
+                'ts': '123',
+                'hmac': '198717d5c98b89ec3b509784758a98323f167ca6d42c363672169cfc',
+                'cp': 'fake-cp-key',
+                'lptoken': 'fake-lptoken',
+            },
+            timeout=10,
+        )
+
     @mock.patch('laterpay.signing.sign')
     @mock.patch('time.time')
     def test_get_access_params(self, time_time_mock, sign_mock):

pip install -e .[dev]
parse_log_pytest
requirements.txt
pytest pytest-cov pytest-xdist pytest-mock pytest-asyncio
3.5
requirements-test.txt
pytest --no-header -rA --tb=line --color=no -p no:cacheprovider -W ignore::DeprecationWarning
attrs==22.2.0
certifi==2021.5.30
charset-normalizer==2.0.12
cookies==2.2.1
coverage==6.2
execnet==1.9.0
flake8==2.6.0
furl==0.4.95
idna==3.10
importlib-metadata==4.8.3
iniconfig==1.1.1
-e git+https://github.com/laterpay/laterpay-client-python.git@87100aa64f880f61f9cdda81f1675c7650fc7c2e#egg=laterpay_client
mccabe==0.5.3
mock==2.0.0
orderedmultidict==1.0.1
packaging==21.3
pbr==6.1.1
pluggy==1.0.0
py==1.11.0
pycodestyle==2.0.0
pydocstyle==1.0.0
pyflakes==1.2.3
PyJWT==2.4.0
pyparsing==3.1.4
pytest==7.0.1
pytest-asyncio==0.16.0
pytest-cov==4.0.0
pytest-mock==3.6.1
pytest-xdist==3.0.2
requests==2.27.1
responses==0.5.1
six==1.17.0
tomli==1.2.3
typing_extensions==4.1.1
urllib3==1.26.20
zipp==3.6.0

name: laterpay-client-python
channels:
  - defaults
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r
  - conda-forge
dependencies:
  - _libgcc_mutex=0.1=main
  - _openmp_mutex=5.1=1_gnu
  - ca-certificates=2025.2.25=h06a4308_0
  - certifi=2021.5.30=py36h06a4308_0
  - ld_impl_linux-64=2.40=h12ee557_0
  - libffi=3.3=he6710b0_2
  - libgcc-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libgomp=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libstdcxx-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - ncurses=6.4=h6a678d5_0
  - openssl=1.1.1w=h7f8727e_0
  - pip=21.2.2=py36h06a4308_0
  - python=3.6.13=h12debd9_1
  - readline=8.2=h5eee18b_0
  - setuptools=58.0.4=py36h06a4308_0
  - sqlite=3.45.3=h5eee18b_0
  - tk=8.6.14=h39e8969_0
  - wheel=0.37.1=pyhd3eb1b0_0
  - xz=5.6.4=h5eee18b_1
  - zlib=1.2.13=h5eee18b_1
  - pip:
      - attrs==22.2.0
      - charset-normalizer==2.0.12
      - cookies==2.2.1
      - coverage==6.2
      - execnet==1.9.0
      - flake8==2.6.0
      - furl==0.4.95
      - idna==3.10
      - importlib-metadata==4.8.3
      - iniconfig==1.1.1
      - mccabe==0.5.3
      - mock==2.0.0
      - orderedmultidict==1.0.1
      - packaging==21.3
      - pbr==6.1.1
      - pluggy==1.0.0
      - py==1.11.0
      - pycodestyle==2.0.0
      - pydocstyle==1.0.0
      - pyflakes==1.2.3
      - pyjwt==2.4.0
      - pyparsing==3.1.4
      - pytest==7.0.1
      - pytest-asyncio==0.16.0
      - pytest-cov==4.0.0
      - pytest-mock==3.6.1
      - pytest-xdist==3.0.2
      - requests==2.27.1
      - responses==0.5.1
      - six==1.17.0
      - tomli==1.2.3
      - typing-extensions==4.1.1
      - urllib3==1.26.20
      - zipp==3.6.0
prefix: /opt/conda/envs/laterpay-client-python

tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_access_data_connection_handler
tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_manual_ident_token tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_manual_ident_token_muid tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_manual_ident_url
tests/test_client.py::TestItemDefinition::test_invalid_expiry tests/test_client.py::TestItemDefinition::test_invalid_period tests/test_client.py::TestItemDefinition::test_invalid_pricing tests/test_client.py::TestItemDefinition::test_invalid_sub_id tests/test_client.py::TestItemDefinition::test_item_definition tests/test_client.py::TestItemDefinition::test_sub_id tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_access_data_success tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_access_data_success_muid tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_access_params tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_add_url tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_buy_url tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_controls_balance_url_all_defaults tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_controls_balance_url_all_set tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_controls_links_url_all_defaults tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_controls_links_url_all_set_long tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_controls_links_url_all_set_short tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_gettoken_redirect tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_login_dialog_url_with_use_dialog_api_false tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_logout_dialog_url_with_use_dialog_api_false tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_signup_dialog_url tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_subscribe_url tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_get_web_url_itemdefinition_value_none tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_has_token tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_web_url_consumable tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_web_url_dialog tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_web_url_failure_url tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_web_url_jsevents tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_web_url_muid tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_web_url_product_key tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_web_url_return_url tests/test_client.py::TestLaterPayClient::test_web_url_transaction_reference
laterpay/__init__.py CHANGELOG.md
laterpay/__init__.py CHANGELOG.md