diff --git a/lib/puppet/functions/parsehocon.rb b/lib/puppet/functions/parsehocon.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b7ae62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/puppet/functions/parsehocon.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# @summary
+#   This function accepts HOCON as a string and converts it into the correct
+#   Puppet structure
+#
+# @return
+#   Data
+#
+# @example How to parse hocon
+#   $data = parsehocon("{any valid hocon: string}")
+#
+Puppet::Functions.create_function(:parsehocon) do
+  # @param hocon_string A valid HOCON string
+  # @param default An optional default to return if parsing hocon_string fails
+  dispatch :parsehocon do
+    param          'String', :hocon_string
+    optional_param 'Any',    :default
+  end
+
+  def parsehocon(hocon_string, default = :no_default_provided)
+    require 'hocon/config_factory'
+
+    begin
+      data = Hocon::ConfigFactory.parse_string(hocon_string)
+      data.resolve.root.unwrapped
+    rescue Hocon::ConfigError::ConfigParseError => err
+      Puppet.debug("Parsing hocon failed with error: #{err.message}")
+      raise err if default == :no_default_provided
+      default
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/functions/parsehocon_spec.rb b/spec/functions/parsehocon_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4eae3ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/functions/parsehocon_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe 'parsehocon' do
+  it { is_expected.to run.with_params('').and_return({}) }
+  it { is_expected.to run.with_params('valid hocon: string').and_return('valid hocon' => 'string') }
+  it { is_expected.to run.with_params('invalid').and_raise_error(Hocon::ConfigError::ConfigParseError) }
+  it { is_expected.to run.with_params('invalid', 'default').and_return('default') }
+end