diff --git a/httpcore/_backends/asyncio.py b/httpcore/_backends/asyncio.py
index c97001a2..ba45f732 100644
--- a/httpcore/_backends/asyncio.py
+++ b/httpcore/_backends/asyncio.py
@@ -131,9 +131,12 @@ async def read(self, n: int, timeout: TimeoutDict) -> bytes:
         exc_map = {asyncio.TimeoutError: ReadTimeout, OSError: ReadError}
         async with self.read_lock:
             with map_exceptions(exc_map):
-                return await asyncio.wait_for(
+                data = await asyncio.wait_for(
                     self.stream_reader.read(n), timeout.get("read")
                 )
+                if data == b"":
+                    raise ReadError("Server disconnected while attempting read")
+                return data
 
     async def write(self, data: bytes, timeout: TimeoutDict) -> None:
         if not data:
diff --git a/httpcore/_backends/sync.py b/httpcore/_backends/sync.py
index 619a1c9c..07375cab 100644
--- a/httpcore/_backends/sync.py
+++ b/httpcore/_backends/sync.py
@@ -59,7 +59,10 @@ def read(self, n: int, timeout: TimeoutDict) -> bytes:
         with self.read_lock:
             with map_exceptions(exc_map):
                 self.sock.settimeout(read_timeout)
-                return self.sock.recv(n)
+                data = self.sock.recv(n)
+                if data == b"":
+                    raise ReadError("Server disconnected while attempting read")
+                return data
 
     def write(self, data: bytes, timeout: TimeoutDict) -> None:
         write_timeout = timeout.get("write")
diff --git a/httpcore/_backends/trio.py b/httpcore/_backends/trio.py
index 4e369f6d..5f047203 100644
--- a/httpcore/_backends/trio.py
+++ b/httpcore/_backends/trio.py
@@ -60,7 +60,10 @@ async def read(self, n: int, timeout: TimeoutDict) -> bytes:
         async with self.read_lock:
             with map_exceptions(exc_map):
                 with trio.fail_after(read_timeout):
-                    return await self.stream.receive_some(max_bytes=n)
+                    data = await self.stream.receive_some(max_bytes=n)
+                    if data == b"":
+                        raise ReadError("Server disconnected while attempting read")
+                    return data
 
     async def write(self, data: bytes, timeout: TimeoutDict) -> None:
         if not data: