diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a264171..e89714c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ dynamic : $(BIN_DIR)/libarena.so
 tests : test/test_arena
 
 $(TEST_DIR)/test_arena : src/test_arena.c $(BIN_DIR)/libarena.a | $(TEST_DIR)
-	$(CC) -o $@ $(CFLAGS) $^
+	$(CC) -o $@ -O0 -ggdb $^
 
 $(BIN_DIR)/libarena.a : $(OBJS) | $(BIN_DIR)
 	ar cr $@ $^
diff --git a/include/arena.h b/include/arena.h
index ece1fe5..68b5e2f 100644
--- a/include/arena.h
+++ b/include/arena.h
@@ -3,15 +3,17 @@
 #define ARENA_H
 
 #include <stddef.h> // ptrdiff_t
+#include <stdint.h> // uintptr_t
 
-typedef unsigned char byte_t;
+#define _WORD_SIZE (sizeof(intptr_t))
 
+// linked list terminology:
+// https://web.archive.org/web/20230604145332/https://i.stack.imgur.com/2FbXf.png
 typedef struct arena {
-    size_t next, prev, cap;
-    void* data;
-} __attribute__((aligned(sizeof(void*)))) arena_t;
+    struct page *head, *last;
+} __attribute__((aligned(_WORD_SIZE))) arena_t;
 
-arena_t arena_new();
+arena_t arena_new(void);
 void arena_reset(arena_t* a);
 void* arena_alloc(arena_t* a, size_t len);
 void* arena_calloc(arena_t* a, size_t nmemb, size_t size);
diff --git a/src/arena.c b/src/arena.c
index 0a6a67c..d1cc6ef 100644
--- a/src/arena.c
+++ b/src/arena.c
@@ -9,76 +9,125 @@
 
 // (sizeof(intptr_t) isn't guaranteed to be the machine word size but on most
 // compilers it is)
-#define WORD_SIZE (sizeof(intptr_t))
+#define SYS_PAGE_SIZE ((size_t)sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE))
 
-#define ARENA_SIZE ((size_t)(1 * sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE)))
+typedef unsigned char byte_t;
 
-arena_t arena_new()
+struct page {
+    void* data;
+    size_t offset, prev_offset;
+    struct page* next;
+};
+
+// linked list terminology:
+// https://web.archive.org/web/20230604145332/https://i.stack.imgur.com/2FbXf.png
+
+arena_t arena_new(void)
 {
-    arena_t a = {
-        .next = 0,
-        .prev = 0,
-        .cap = ARENA_SIZE,
-        .data = malloc(ARENA_SIZE)
-    };
+    struct page* p = malloc(sizeof(struct page));
 
-    if (a.data == NULL)
+    if (p == NULL)
         exit(errno);
 
+    p->next = NULL;
+    p->offset = 0;
+    p->prev_offset = 0;
+    p->data = malloc(SYS_PAGE_SIZE);
+
+    if (p->data == NULL)
+        exit(errno);
+
+    arena_t a = {
+        .head = p,
+        .last = p,
+    };
+
     return a;
 }
 
-void _arena_realloc_or_panic(arena_t* a, size_t len)
+void _arena_new_page(arena_t* a, size_t size)
 {
-    // TODO: gracefully recover.
-    //  although unlikely to be recoverable in most use cases
-    a->data = realloc(a->data, len);
+    if (a->head->next != NULL) {
+        a->head = a->head->next;
+        a->head->offset = 0;
+        a->head->prev_offset = 0;
+        return;
+    }
 
-    if (a->data == NULL)
+    a->head->next = calloc(1, sizeof *(a->head));
+
+    if (a->head->next == NULL)
         exit(errno);
 
-    a->cap = len;
+    a->head = a->head->next;
+    a->head->offset = 0;
+    a->head->prev_offset = 0;
+    a->head->next = NULL;
+    a->head->data = malloc(size);
+
+    if (a->head->data == NULL)
+        exit(errno);
 }
 
 void arena_reset(arena_t* a)
 {
-    a->next = 0;
-    a->prev = 0;
+    a->head = a->last;
+    a->head->offset = 0;
+    a->head->prev_offset = 0;
 }
 
-void* arena_alloc(arena_t* a, size_t len)
+void* _arena_big_alloc(arena_t* a, size_t size)
 {
-    // align len to machine word size
-    len = (len + WORD_SIZE - 1) & ~(WORD_SIZE - 1);
+    _arena_new_page(a, size);
+    a->head->offset = SIZE_MAX;
+    a->head->prev_offset = SIZE_MAX;
 
-    a->prev = a->next;
-    a->next += len;
+    return a->head->data;
+}
 
-    if (a->next > a->cap)
-        _arena_realloc_or_panic(a, a->cap * 2);
+void* arena_alloc(arena_t* a, size_t size)
+{
+    // align size to machine word size
+    size = (size + _WORD_SIZE - 1) & ~(_WORD_SIZE - 1);
 
-    return (byte_t*)(a->data) + a->prev;
+    if (size > SYS_PAGE_SIZE)
+        return _arena_big_alloc(a, size);
+
+    a->head->prev_offset = a->head->offset;
+    a->head->offset += size;
+
+    if (a->head->offset > SYS_PAGE_SIZE) {
+        _arena_new_page(a, SYS_PAGE_SIZE);
+        return arena_alloc(a, size);
+    }
+
+    return (byte_t*)(a->head->data) + a->head->prev_offset;
 }
 
 void* arena_calloc(arena_t* a, size_t nmemb, size_t size)
 {
     void* p = arena_alloc(a, nmemb * size);
-    memset((byte_t*)(a->data) + a->prev, 0, size);
+    memset((byte_t*)p, 0, size);
     return p;
 }
 
 void* arena_realloc_tail(arena_t* a, size_t len)
 {
-    a->next = a->prev;
+    a->head->offset = a->head->prev_offset;
 
     return arena_alloc(a, len);
 }
 
 void arena_delete(arena_t* a)
 {
-    free(a->data);
-    arena_reset(a);
-    a->data = NULL;
+    struct page* p = a->last;
+
+    while (p != NULL) {
+        struct page* next = p->next;
+        free(p->data);
+        free(p);
+        p = next;
+    }
 }
 
 // included for completeness
diff --git a/src/test_arena.c b/src/test_arena.c
index 93c66f4..d44125e 100644
--- a/src/test_arena.c
+++ b/src/test_arena.c
@@ -7,26 +7,34 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-
-static struct arena default_arena = { 0 };
+#include <unistd.h>
 
 int main()
 {
-    default_arena = arena_new();
+    arena_t default_arena = arena_new();
 
-    printf("\nAttempt to do allocations of 1 byte, cap is %zu, ", default_arena.cap);
+    printf("\nAttempting to allocate and write to 1 byte 1024 times");
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < 1024; i++) {
+        char* c = arena_alloc(&default_arena, sizeof *c);
 
-    size_t i;
-    for (i = 0; default_arena.next < default_arena.cap; i++) {
-        char* c = arena_alloc(&default_arena, 1);
-        *c = i & 0xff;
-        if (c == NULL) {
+        *c = i & 0xFF;
+
+        if (c == NULL)
             err(EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to allocate memory");
-        }
     }
-    printf("did %zu allocations", i);
+    printf("\n    OK!\n");
 
-    printf("\n    OK");
+    printf("\nAttempting to allocate and write to `_SC_PAGESIZE+1` bytes");
+    size_t psz = sysconf(_SC_PAGESIZE) + 1;
+    char* c = arena_alloc(&default_arena, psz);
+
+    if (c == NULL)
+        err(EXIT_FAILURE, "failed to allocate memory");
+
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < psz; i++)
+        *c = i & 0xFF;
+
+    printf("\n    OK!\n");
 
     return 0;
 }