diff --git a/bin/git-check-assertions b/bin/git-check-assertions
index 5501358..4ebc513 100755
--- a/bin/git-check-assertions
+++ b/bin/git-check-assertions
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ for commit_hash in "${commits[@]}"; do
     printf '%s\n' "$block" | sed 's/^/> /'
     if ! bash -euo pipefail -c "$block"; then
       echo "git-check-assertions block failed in $commit_hash" >&2
+      git restore -q .
       echo "Returning to $orig_ref"
       git checkout -q "$orig_ref"
       exit 1
diff --git a/test/git-check-assertions.bats b/test/git-check-assertions.bats
index 2e45490..1755820 100755
--- a/test/git-check-assertions.bats
+++ b/test/git-check-assertions.bats
@@ -99,6 +99,16 @@ commit_with_assertion() {
   assert_size_zero ../test
 }
 
+@test "should restore worktree after a failure" {
+  git checkout -b feature
+  commit_with_assertion $'echo blah >> readme\nexit 3'
+
+  run git-check-assertions
+
+  assert_failure
+  assert_size_zero readme
+}
+
 @test "assertions should run against the version of the code inside of the commit" {
   git checkout -b feature
   echo commit1 >readme