diff --git a/src/MySQLdb/connections.py b/src/MySQLdb/connections.py
index 98847a65..af0d28c3 100644
--- a/src/MySQLdb/connections.py
+++ b/src/MySQLdb/connections.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 override Connection.default_cursor with a non-standard Cursor class.
 """
 
+import os
 import re
 
 from . import _mysql, cursors
@@ -214,6 +215,23 @@ class object, used to create cursors (keyword only)
         # PEP-249 requires autocommit to be initially off
         autocommit = kwargs2.pop("autocommit", False)
 
+        # Accept path-like objects for C API string options (e.g. pathlib.Path).
+        # See https://github.com/PyMySQL/mysqlclient/issues/319
+        for key in (
+            "read_default_file",
+            "read_default_group",
+            "unix_socket",
+            "ssl_key",
+            "ssl_cert",
+            "ssl_ca",
+            "ssl_capath",
+            "ssl_cipher",
+            "init_command",
+            "local_infile_dir",
+        ):
+            if key in kwargs2 and kwargs2[key] is not None:
+                kwargs2[key] = os.fspath(kwargs2[key])
+
         self._set_attributes(*args, **kwargs2)
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs2)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_connection_pathlike.py b/tests/test_connection_pathlike.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f1cb0ac0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_connection_pathlike.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+"""Path-like connection options (#319)."""
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest import mock
+
+import MySQLdb
+
+
+def test_read_default_file_path_converted_via_fspath():
+    path = Path("/tmp/does-not-need-to-exist.cnf")
+    captured = {}
+
+    def fake_c_init(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        captured.update(kwargs)
+        raise RuntimeError("stop after c init kwargs captured")
+
+    with mock.patch.object(MySQLdb._mysql.connection, "__init__", fake_c_init):
+        with mock.patch.object(MySQLdb.connections.Connection, "_set_attributes"):
+            try:
+                MySQLdb.connections.Connection(read_default_file=path)
+            except RuntimeError as exc:
+                assert str(exc) == "stop after c init kwargs captured"
+
+    assert captured["read_default_file"] == os.fspath(path)
+    assert isinstance(captured["read_default_file"], str)