diff --git a/data/numpy/test_1d_int32.npy b/data/numpy/test_1d_int32.npy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a95c6a6
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diff --git a/data/numpy/test_3d_double.npy b/data/numpy/test_3d_double.npy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f46b4d0
Binary files /dev/null and b/data/numpy/test_3d_double.npy differ
diff --git a/data/numpy/write_test_files.py b/data/numpy/write_test_files.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba3f855
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/numpy/write_test_files.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import numpy as np
+
+
+arr = np.arange(10, dtype = np.int32)
+np.save('test_1d_int32.npy', arr)
+
+arr2 = np.zeros((3,2,5), dtype = np.float64)
+arr2[0,0,0] = 1.0
+arr2[0,0,1] = 2.0
+arr2[0,1,0] = 72.0
+arr2[2,0,4] = 63.0
+np.save('test_3d_double.npy', arr2)
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diff --git a/file_io/test/NumpyFile.test.cpp b/file_io/test/NumpyFile.test.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f5792d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/file_io/test/NumpyFile.test.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#include <catch2/catch_test_macros.hpp>
+#include "aare/NumpyFile.hpp"
+#include "aare/NDArray.hpp"
+
+#include "test_config.hpp"
+
+using aare::NumpyFile;
+using aare::DType;
+TEST_CASE("Read a 1D numpy file with int32 data type"){
+
+    auto fpath = test_data_path() / "numpy" / "test_1d_int32.npy";
+    REQUIRE(std::filesystem::exists(fpath));
+
+    NumpyFile f(fpath);
+
+    //we know the file contains 10 elements of np.int32 containing values 0-9
+    REQUIRE(f.dtype() == DType::INT32);
+    REQUIRE(f.shape() == std::vector<size_t>{10});
+    
+    //use the load function to read the full file into a NDArray
+    auto data = f.load<int32_t,1>();
+    for(size_t i = 0; i < 10; i++){
+        REQUIRE(data(i) == i);
+    }
+
+}
+
+TEST_CASE("Read a 3D numpy file with np.double data type"){
+
+    auto fpath = test_data_path() / "numpy" / "test_3d_double.npy";
+    REQUIRE(std::filesystem::exists(fpath));
+
+    NumpyFile f(fpath);
+
+    //we know the file contains 10 elements of np.int32 containing values 0-9
+    REQUIRE(f.dtype() == DType::DOUBLE);
+    REQUIRE(f.shape() == std::vector<size_t>{3,2,5});
+    
+    //use the load function to read the full file into a NDArray
+    //numpy code to generate the array
+    // arr2[0,0,0] = 1.0
+    // arr2[0,0,1] = 2.0
+    // arr2[0,1,0] = 72.0
+    // arr2[2,0,4] = 63.0
+    
+    auto data = f.load<double,3>();
+    REQUIRE(data(0,0,0) == 1.0);
+    REQUIRE(data(0,0,1) == 2.0);
+    REQUIRE(data(0,1,0) == 72.0);
+    REQUIRE(data(2,0,4) == 63.0);
+    
+
+}
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