diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 9e14ab5..10e9874 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: argparse
 Type: Package
 Title: Command Line Optional and Positional Argument Parser
-Version: 2.2.0-0
+Version: 2.2.0-2
 Authors@R: c(person("Trevor L", "Davis", role=c("aut", "cre"),
              email="trevor.l.davis@gmail.com",
              comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0001-6341-4639")),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4d98c44..b48b76d 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@ argparse 2.2.0
 * `add_argument()` now allows "numeric" as an alias for "double" for the `type` argument (#42).
   Suggestion of @dariober.
 
-* `ArgumentParser()` will now quietly "squish" its `description` argument 
-  (which in some cases avoids an error) (#44).
+* `ArgumentParser()` now handles `description` arguments with newlines in them (#44).
   Thanks Arthur Gilly (@agilly) for bug report.
 
 argparse 2.1.6
diff --git a/R/argparse.R b/R/argparse.R
index 8b265e5..28bd2df 100644
--- a/R/argparse.R
+++ b/R/argparse.R
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ parse_args_output <- function(output) {
 
 # @param argument argument to be converted from R to Python
 convert_argument <- function(argument, as_list = FALSE) {
-    if (is.character(argument)) argument <- shQuote(argument, type = "sh")
+    if (is.character(argument)) argument <- paste0('"""', argument, '"""')
     if (is.numeric(argument)) argument <- as.character(argument)
     if (is.logical(argument)) argument <- ifelse(argument, "True", "False")
     if (is.null(argument)) argument <- "None"
@@ -323,14 +323,6 @@ convert_..._to_arguments <- function(mode, ...) { # nolint
         formatter_class <- argument_list[[ii]]
         proposed_arguments[ii] <- sprintf("formatter_class=%s", formatter_class)
     }
-    # Convert whitespace to single space in description
-    if (mode == "ArgumentParser" && any(grepl("description=", proposed_arguments))) {
-        ii <- grep("description=", proposed_arguments)
-        description <- argument_list[[ii]]
-        description <- trimws(gsub("\\s+", " ", description))
-        description <- shQuote(description)
-        proposed_arguments[ii] <- sprintf("description=%s", description)
-    }
     # Set right default prog name if not specified, if possible
     # Do last to not screw up other fixes with prog insertion
     if (mode == "ArgumentParser" && needs_prog(argument_names)) {
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-argparse.R b/tests/testthat/test-argparse.R
index 05c1be3..ca1e1aa 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-argparse.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-argparse.R
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ test_that("print_help works as expected", {
 
 test_that("convert_argument works as expected", {
     skip_if_not(detects_python())
-    expect_equal(convert_argument("foobar"), "'foobar'")
+    expect_equal(convert_argument("foobar"), '"""foobar"""')
     expect_equal(convert_argument(14.9), "14.9")
     expect_equal(convert_argument(c(12.1, 14.9)), "(12.1, 14.9)")
-    expect_equal(convert_argument(c("a", "b")), "('a', 'b')")
+    expect_equal(convert_argument(c("a", "b")), '("""a""", """b""")')
 })
 
 test_that("convert_..._to_arguments works as expected", {
@@ -51,17 +51,17 @@ test_that("convert_..._to_arguments works as expected", {
     # test in mode "add_argument"
     c.2a <- function(...) convert_..._to_arguments("add_argument", ...)
     waz <- "wazzup"
-    expect_equal(c.2a(foo = "bar", hello = "world"), "foo='bar', hello='world'")
-    expect_equal(c.2a(foo = "bar", waz), "foo='bar', 'wazzup'")
+    expect_equal(c.2a(foo = "bar", hello = "world"), 'foo="""bar""", hello="""world"""')
+    expect_equal(c.2a(foo = "bar", waz), 'foo="""bar""", """wazzup"""')
     expect_equal(c.2a(type = "character"), "type=str")
     expect_equal(c.2a(default = TRUE), "default=True")
     expect_equal(c.2a(default = 3.4), "default=3.4")
-    expect_equal(c.2a(default = "foo"), "default='foo'")
+    expect_equal(c.2a(default = "foo"), 'default="""foo"""')
     # test in mode "ArgumentParser"
     c.2a <- function(...) convert_..._to_arguments("ArgumentParser", ...)
     expect_match(c.2a(argument_default = FALSE), "argument_default=False")
     expect_match(c.2a(argument_default = 30), "argument_default=30")
-    expect_match(c.2a(argument_default = "foobar"), "argument_default='foobar'")
+    expect_match(c.2a(argument_default = "foobar"), 'argument_default="""foobar"""')
     expect_match(c.2a(foo = "bar"), "^prog='PROGRAM'|^prog='test-argparse.R'")
     expect_match(c.2a(formatter_class = "argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter"),
                  "formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter")