diff --git a/lib/__snapshots__/index.test.js.snap b/lib/__snapshots__/index.test.js.snap
index 3477243..e4927c1 100644
--- a/lib/__snapshots__/index.test.js.snap
+++ b/lib/__snapshots__/index.test.js.snap
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 // Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
 
+exports[`metalsmith-layouts should prefix rendering errors with the filename 1`] = `"index.html: Something went wrong while rendering"`;
+
 exports[`metalsmith-layouts should return an error for an invalid pattern 1`] = `"invalid pattern, the pattern option should be a string or array of strings. See https://www.npmjs.com/package/metalsmith-layouts#pattern"`;
 
 exports[`metalsmith-layouts should return an error when there are no valid files to process 1`] = `"no files to process. See https://www.npmjs.com/package/metalsmith-layouts#no-files-to-process"`;
diff --git a/lib/get-transformer.js b/lib/get-transformer.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66f3804
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/get-transformer.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+const jstransformer = require('jstransformer');
+const toTransformer = require('inputformat-to-jstransformer');
+
+/**
+ * Gets jstransformer for an extension, and caches them
+ */
+
+const cache = {};
+
+function getTransformer(ext) {
+  if (ext in cache) {
+    return cache[ext];
+  }
+
+  const transformer = toTransformer(ext);
+  cache[ext] = transformer ? jstransformer(transformer) : false;
+
+  return cache[ext];
+}
+
+module.exports = getTransformer;
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index a16c85b..5f5ecff 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -2,25 +2,7 @@ const debug = require('debug')('metalsmith-layouts');
 const match = require('multimatch');
 const path = require('path');
 const isUtf8 = require('is-utf8');
-const jstransformer = require('jstransformer');
-const toTransformer = require('inputformat-to-jstransformer');
-
-/**
- * Gets jstransformer for an extension, and caches them
- */
-
-const cache = {};
-
-function getTransformer(ext) {
-  if (ext in cache) {
-    return cache[ext];
-  }
-
-  const transformer = toTransformer(ext);
-  cache[ext] = transformer ? jstransformer(transformer) : false;
-
-  return cache[ext];
-}
+const getTransformer = require('./get-transformer');
 
 /**
  * Resolves layouts, in the following order:
@@ -68,7 +50,7 @@ function render({ filename, files, metadata, settings, metalsmith }) {
       // Prepend error message with file path
       // eslint-disable-next-line no-param-reassign
       err.message = `${filename}: ${err.message}`;
-      return Promise.reject(err);
+      throw err;
     });
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/index.test.js b/lib/index.test.js
index 65e837f..114129d 100644
--- a/lib/index.test.js
+++ b/lib/index.test.js
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ const path = require('path');
 const plugin = require('./index');
 
 describe('metalsmith-layouts', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    jest.resetModules();
+  });
+
   it('should apply a single layout to a single file', done => {
     const base = path.join(process.cwd(), 'test', 'fixtures', 'single-file');
     const actual = path.join(base, 'build');
@@ -327,4 +331,22 @@ describe('metalsmith-layouts', () => {
       return done();
     });
   });
+
+  it('should prefix rendering errors with the filename', done => {
+    jest.doMock('./get-transformer', () =>
+      jest.fn(() => ({
+        renderFileAsync: () => Promise.reject(new Error('Something went wrong while rendering'))
+      }))
+    );
+    const plugin = require('./index'); // eslint-disable-line global-require, no-shadow
+
+    const base = path.join(process.cwd(), 'test', 'fixtures', 'rendering-error');
+    const metalsmith = new Metalsmith(base);
+
+    return metalsmith.use(plugin()).build(err => {
+      expect(err).toBeInstanceOf(Error);
+      expect(err.message).toMatchSnapshot();
+      done();
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 234c93b..3f85e44 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
     "eslint-config-prettier": "^2.9.0",
     "eslint-plugin-import": "^2.13.0",
     "husky": "^0.14.3",
-    "jest": "^23.5.0",
+    "jest": "^24.7.1",
     "jstransformer-handlebars": "^1.0.0",
     "jstransformer-qejs": "^0.2.0",
     "lint-staged": "^7.0.0",
diff --git a/test/fixtures/rendering-error/layouts/standard.hbs b/test/fixtures/rendering-error/layouts/standard.hbs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3eddc9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/rendering-error/layouts/standard.hbs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+  <head></head>
+  <body>
+    {{{ contents }}}
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/rendering-error/src/index.html b/test/fixtures/rendering-error/src/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d5ede3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/rendering-error/src/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+layout: standard.hbs
+---
+<h1>The title</h1>