diff --git a/src/preprocess/metadata.rs b/src/preprocess/metadata.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ccf5d228
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/preprocess/metadata.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,277 @@
+use crate::errors::*;
+use regex::{CaptureMatches, Captures, Regex};
+
+use super::{Preprocessor, PreprocessorContext};
+use crate::book::{Book, BookItem};
+
+/// A preprocessor for reading TOML front matter from a markdown file. The supported
+/// fields are:
+/// - `author` - For setting the author meta tag.
+/// - `title` - For overwritting the title tag.
+/// - `description` - For setting the description meta tag.
+/// - `keywords` - For setting the keywords meta tag.
+/// - `date` - The date the file was created, creates a handlebar.js vairable {{date}}.
+/// - `modified` - The date the file was modified, creates a handlebar.js vairable {{modified}}.
+#[derive(Default)]
+pub struct MetadataPreprocessor;
+
+impl MetadataPreprocessor {
+    pub(crate) const NAME: &'static str = "metadata";
+
+    /// Create a new `MetadataPreprocessor`.
+    pub fn new() -> Self {
+        MetadataPreprocessor
+    }
+}
+
+impl Preprocessor for MetadataPreprocessor {
+    fn name(&self) -> &str {
+        Self::NAME
+    }
+
+    fn run(&self, _ctx: &PreprocessorContext, mut book: Book) -> Result<Book> {
+        book.for_each_mut(|section: &mut BookItem| {
+            if let BookItem::Chapter(ref mut ch) = *section {
+                let (metadata, content) = collect(&ch.content);
+                ch.content = content;
+                ch.chapter_config.append(&mut metadata.to_map());
+            }
+        });
+        Ok(book)
+    }
+}
+
+fn collect(s: &str) -> (Metadata, String) {
+    let mut end_index = 0;
+    let mut replaced = String::new();
+
+    let metadata: Metadata = if let Some(metadata) = find_metadata(s).next() {
+        match toml::from_str(metadata.text) {
+            Ok(meta) => {
+                end_index += metadata.end_index;
+                meta
+            }
+            _ => Metadata::default(),
+        }
+    } else {
+        Metadata::default()
+    };
+
+    replaced.push_str(&s[end_index..]);
+    (metadata, replaced)
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+#[serde(default, rename_all = "kebab-case")]
+struct Metadata {
+    author: Option<String>,
+    title: Option<String>,
+    date: Option<String>,
+    keywords: Option<Vec<String>>,
+    description: Option<String>,
+    modified: Option<String>,
+}
+
+impl Metadata {
+    fn to_map(self) -> serde_json::Map<String, serde_json::Value> {
+        let mut map = serde_json::Map::new();
+        if let Some(author) = self.author {
+            map.insert("author".to_string(), json!(author));
+        }
+        if let Some(title) = self.title {
+            map.insert("title".to_string(), json!(title));
+        }
+        if let Some(date) = self.date {
+            map.insert("date".to_string(), json!(date));
+        }
+        if let Some(keywords) = self.keywords {
+            map.insert("keywords".to_string(), json!(keywords));
+        }
+        if let Some(modified) = self.modified {
+            map.insert("modified".to_string(), json!(modified));
+        }
+        if let Some(description) = self.description {
+            map.insert("description".to_string(), json!(description));
+        }
+        map
+    }
+}
+
+impl Default for Metadata {
+    fn default() -> Metadata {
+        Metadata {
+            author: None,
+            title: None,
+            date: None,
+            keywords: None,
+            modified: None,
+            description: None,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(PartialEq, Debug, Clone)]
+struct MetadataItem<'a> {
+    end_index: usize,
+    text: &'a str,
+}
+
+impl<'a> MetadataItem<'a> {
+    fn from_capture(cap: Captures<'a>) -> Option<MetadataItem<'a>> {
+        if let Some(mat) = cap.name("metadata") {
+            let full_match = cap.get(0).unwrap();
+            if full_match.start() == 0 {
+                return Some(MetadataItem {
+                    end_index: full_match.end(),
+                    text: mat.as_str(),
+                });
+            }
+        }
+        None
+    }
+}
+
+struct MetadataIter<'a>(CaptureMatches<'a, 'a>);
+
+impl<'a> Iterator for MetadataIter<'a> {
+    type Item = MetadataItem<'a>;
+    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<MetadataItem<'a>> {
+        for cap in &mut self.0 {
+            if let Some(inc) = MetadataItem::from_capture(cap) {
+                return Some(inc);
+            }
+        }
+        None
+    }
+}
+
+fn find_metadata(contents: &str) -> MetadataIter<'_> {
+    // lazily compute following regex
+    // r"^-{3,}\n(?P<metadata>.*?)^{3,}\n"
+    lazy_static! {
+        static ref RE: Regex = Regex::new(
+            r"(?xms)          # insignificant whitespace mode and multiline
+            ^-{3,}\n          # match a horizontal rule
+            (?P<metadata>.*?) # name the match between horizontal rules metadata
+            ^-{3,}\n          # match a horizontal rule
+            "
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+    }
+    MetadataIter(RE.captures_iter(contents))
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_collect_not_at_start() {
+        let start = "\
+        content\n\
+        ---
+        author = \"Adam\"
+        title = \"Blog Post #1\"
+        keywords = [
+            \"rust\",
+            \"blog\",
+        ]
+        date = \"2021/02/15\"
+        modified = \"2021/02/16\"\n\
+        ---
+        content
+        ";
+        assert_eq!(collect(start).1, start);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_collect_at_start() {
+        let start = "\
+        ---
+        author = \"Adam\"
+        title = \"Blog Post #1\"
+        keywords = [
+            \"rust\",
+            \"blog\",
+        ]
+        date = \"2021/02/15\"
+        description = \"My rust blog.\"
+        modified = \"2021/02/16\"\n\
+        ---\n\
+        content
+        ";
+        let end = "\
+        content
+        ";
+        assert_eq!(collect(start).1, end);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_collect_partial_metadata() {
+        let start = "\
+        ---
+        author = \"Adam\"\n\
+        ---\n\
+        content
+        ";
+        let end = "\
+        content
+        ";
+        assert_eq!(collect(start).1, end);
+        assert_eq!(
+            collect(start).0,
+            Metadata {
+                author: Some("Adam".to_string()),
+                ..Default::default()
+            }
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_collect_unsupported_metadata() {
+        let start = "\
+        ---
+        author: \"Adam\"
+        unsupported_field: \"text\"\n\
+        ---
+        followed by more content
+        ";
+        assert_eq!(collect(start).1, start);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_collect_not_metadata() {
+        let start = "\
+        ---
+        This is just standard content that happens to start with a line break
+        and has a second line break in the text.\n\
+        ---
+        followed by more content
+        ";
+        assert_eq!(collect(start).1, start);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_metadata_to_map() {
+        let metadata: Metadata = toml::from_str(
+            "author = \"Adam\"
+        title = \"Blog Post #1\"
+        keywords = [
+            \"Rust\",
+            \"Blog\",
+        ]
+        date = \"2021/02/15\"
+        description = \"My rust blog.\"
+        modified = \"2021/02/16\" ",
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+        let mut map = serde_json::Map::new();
+        map.insert("author".to_string(), json!("Adam"));
+        map.insert("title".to_string(), json!("Blog Post #1"));
+        map.insert("keywords".to_string(), json!(vec!["Rust", "Blog"]));
+        map.insert("date".to_string(), json!("2021/02/15"));
+        map.insert("description".to_string(), json!("My rust blog."));
+        map.insert("modified".to_string(), json!("2021/02/16"));
+        assert_eq!(metadata.to_map(), map)
+    }
+}