diff --git a/incorporealcms/pages.py b/incorporealcms/pages.py
index 6191852..c952eaf 100644
--- a/incorporealcms/pages.py
+++ b/incorporealcms/pages.py
@@ -132,12 +132,15 @@ def generate_parent_navs(path):
         md = init_md()
 
         # read the resource
-        with app.open_instance_resource(path, 'r') as entry_file:
-            entry = entry_file.read()
-        _ = Markup(md.convert(entry))
-        page_name = (" ".join(md.Meta.get('title')) if md.Meta.get('title')
-                     else request_path_to_breadcrumb_display(request_path))
-        return generate_parent_navs(parent_resource_path) + [(page_name, request_path)]
+        try:
+            with app.open_instance_resource(path, 'r') as entry_file:
+                entry = entry_file.read()
+            _ = Markup(md.convert(entry))
+            page_name = (" ".join(md.Meta.get('title')) if md.Meta.get('title')
+                         else request_path_to_breadcrumb_display(request_path))
+            return generate_parent_navs(parent_resource_path) + [(page_name, request_path)]
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            return generate_parent_navs(parent_resource_path) + [(request_path, request_path)]
 
 
 def request_path_to_breadcrumb_display(path):
diff --git a/tests/instance/pages/no-index-dir/page.md b/tests/instance/pages/no-index-dir/page.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2bcf858
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/instance/pages/no-index-dir/page.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+this is a test page
diff --git a/tests/test_pages.py b/tests/test_pages.py
index f438540..83c3886 100644
--- a/tests/test_pages.py
+++ b/tests/test_pages.py
@@ -35,6 +35,16 @@ def test_generate_page_navs_subdir_with_title_parsing_real_page(app):
         ]
 
 
+def test_generate_page_navs_subdir_with_no_index(app):
+    """Test that breadcrumbs still generate even if a subdir doesn't have an index.md."""
+    with app.app_context():
+        assert generate_parent_navs('pages/no-index-dir/page.md') == [
+            ('incorporeal.org', '/'),
+            ('/no-index-dir/', '/no-index-dir/'),
+            ('page', '/no-index-dir/page')
+        ]
+
+
 def test_render_with_user_dark_theme(app):
     """Test that a request with the dark theme selected renders the dark theme."""
     cookie = dump_cookie("user-style", 'dark')