diff --git a/broker/client/reader.go b/broker/client/reader.go
index 93222a5d..0f7d6dfe 100644
--- a/broker/client/reader.go
+++ b/broker/client/reader.go
@@ -26,9 +26,9 @@ import (
 // seek to the requested offset, and read its content.
 //
 // Reader returns EOF if:
-//  * The broker closes the RPC, eg because its assignment has change or it's shutting down.
-//  * The requested EndOffset has been read through.
-//  * A Fragment being read by the Reader reaches EOF.
+//   - The broker closes the RPC, eg because its assignment has change or it's shutting down.
+//   - The requested EndOffset has been read through.
+//   - A Fragment being read by the Reader reaches EOF.
 //
 // If Block is true, Read may block indefinitely. Otherwise, ErrOffsetNotYetAvailable
 // is returned upon reaching the journal write head.
@@ -179,6 +179,8 @@ func (r *Reader) Read(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 		if err != io.EOF {
 			panic(err.Error()) // Status_OK implies graceful stream closure.
 		}
+	case pb.Status_JOURNAL_NOT_FOUND:
+		err = ErrJournalNotFound
 	case pb.Status_NOT_JOURNAL_BROKER:
 		err = ErrNotJournalBroker
 	case pb.Status_INSUFFICIENT_JOURNAL_BROKERS:
@@ -199,9 +201,10 @@ func (r *Reader) AdjustedOffset(br *bufio.Reader) int64 {
 }
 
 // Seek provides a limited form of seeking support. Specifically, if:
-//  * A Fragment URL is being directly read, and
-//  * The Seek offset is ahead of the current Reader offset, and
-//  * The Fragment also covers the desired Seek offset
+//   - A Fragment URL is being directly read, and
+//   - The Seek offset is ahead of the current Reader offset, and
+//   - The Fragment also covers the desired Seek offset
+//
 // Then a seek is performed by reading and discarding to the seeked offset.
 // Seek will otherwise return ErrSeekRequiresNewReader.
 func (r *Reader) Seek(offset int64, whence int) (int64, error) {
diff --git a/broker/client/retry_reader.go b/broker/client/retry_reader.go
index 72e731b5..c62da1ea 100644
--- a/broker/client/retry_reader.go
+++ b/broker/client/retry_reader.go
@@ -100,13 +100,24 @@ func (rr *RetryReader) Read(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 			} else {
 				return // Surface to caller.
 			}
-		case ErrInsufficientJournalBrokers, ErrNotJournalBroker, ErrJournalNotFound:
+		case ErrInsufficientJournalBrokers, ErrNotJournalBroker:
 			// Suppress logging for expected errors on first read attempt.
 			// We may be racing a concurrent Etcd watch and assignment of the broker cluster.
 			squelch = attempt == 0
+		case ErrJournalNotFound:
+			// If a Header was attached to the request, the journal was not found
+			// even after honoring its read-through Etcd revision. If not,
+			// we allow a handful of attempts to work around expected propagation
+			// delays of Etcd revisions if the journal was just created.
+			if rr.Reader.Request.Header != nil || attempt > 3 {
+				return // Surface to caller.
+			}
 		case io.EOF:
-			// Repeated EOF is common if topology changes or authorizations
-			// expire on a journal with no active appends.
+			// EOF means we had an established RPC, but it might not have sent
+			// any data before being closed server-side, so clear `attempts` to
+			// reduce log noise: it's common to next see ErrNotJournalBroker
+			// on broker topology changes or when authorizations are refreshed.
+			attempt = 0
 			squelch = true
 		default:
 		}