diff --git a/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker.Tests/DockerBootstrapSpecs.cs b/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker.Tests/DockerBootstrapSpecs.cs
index 30f68f7..9698c58 100644
--- a/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker.Tests/DockerBootstrapSpecs.cs
+++ b/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker.Tests/DockerBootstrapSpecs.cs
@@ -117,6 +117,73 @@ public void ShouldStartIfValidSeedNodesIfSupplied_Hardcoded(string seedNodes, st
             }
         }
 
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData("[]", new string[0])]
+        [InlineData(
+            "[akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140]", 
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140"})]
+        [InlineData(
+            "[akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140, akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141]", 
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141"})]
+        [InlineData(
+            "[akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140, akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141, akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142]",
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142"})]
+        // The whole line is quoted
+        [InlineData(
+            "[\"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140, akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141, akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142\"]",
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142"})]
+        // The whole line is quoted with arbitrary whitespaces
+        [InlineData(
+            "[   \"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140,  akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141,   akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142 \"  ]",
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142"})]
+        // Every item is quoted
+        [InlineData(
+            "[\"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140\", \"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141\", \"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142\"]",
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142"})]
+        // Only one item is quoted
+        [InlineData(
+            "[\"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140\", akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141, akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142]",
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142"})]
+        // Only one item is quoted
+        [InlineData(
+            "[akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140, \"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141\", akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142]",
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142"})]
+        // Only one item is quoted
+        [InlineData(
+            "[akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140, akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141, \"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142\"]",
+            new[]{"akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9140", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9141", 
+                "akka.tcp://MySys@localhost:9142"})]
+        public void ShouldStartIfValidSeedNodesIfSuppliedInArrayFormat(string seedNodes, string[] expected)
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("CLUSTER_SEEDS", seedNodes, EnvironmentVariableTarget.Process);
+                var myConfig = ConfigurationFactory.Empty.BootstrapFromDocker();
+                myConfig.HasPath("akka.cluster.seed-nodes").Should().BeTrue();
+                var seeds = myConfig.GetStringList("akka.cluster.seed-nodes").Select(x => x.Trim());
+                seeds.Should().BeEquivalentTo(expected);
+            }
+            finally
+            {
+                // clean the environment variable up afterwards
+                Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("CLUSTER_SEEDS", null);
+            }
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public void ShouldStartIfValidSeedNodesIsSuppliedInIndexedFormat()
         {
diff --git a/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker/EnvironmentVariableConfigLoader.cs b/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker/EnvironmentVariableConfigLoader.cs
index d16b975..af4314d 100644
--- a/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker/EnvironmentVariableConfigLoader.cs
+++ b/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker/EnvironmentVariableConfigLoader.cs
@@ -82,12 +82,29 @@ private static IEnumerable<EnvironmentVariableConfigEntrySource> GetEnvironmentV
                 if (isList)
                 {
                     value = value.Trim();
-                    var values = new ListParser().Parse(value).ToArray();
+
+                    string[] values;
+                    try
+                    {
+                        values = new ListParser().Parse(value).ToArray();
+                    }
+                    catch (Exception e)
+                    {
+                        throw new ConfigurationException($"Failed to parse list value [{value}]", e);
+                    }
+
                     if (values.Length == 1)
                     {
                         // if the parser only returns a single value,
                         // we might have a quoted environment variable
-                        values = new ListParser().Parse(values[0]).ToArray();
+                        try
+                        {
+                            values = new ListParser().Parse(values[0]).ToArray();
+                        }
+                        catch (Exception e)
+                        {
+                            throw new ConfigurationException($"Failed to parse list value [{values[0]}]", e);
+                        }
                     }
 
                     // always assume that string needs to be quoted
diff --git a/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker/ListParser.cs b/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker/ListParser.cs
index ab459f5..0987262 100644
--- a/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker/ListParser.cs
+++ b/src/Akka.Bootstrap.Docker/ListParser.cs
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ private void ParseToken()
                         _state = TokenizerState.AfterComma;
                         // consume it and go on
                         Consume();
+                        ConsumeConsecutiveWhiteSpaces();
                         break;
                     }
 
@@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ private void ParseToken()
                         Consume();
                         ConsumeConsecutiveWhiteSpaces();
                         Peek(out eol);
-                        if (!eol || _state != TokenizerState.AfterComma || _state != TokenizerState.EndOfString)
+                        if (!eol || (_state != TokenizerState.AfterComma && _state != TokenizerState.EndOfString))
                             throw new ConfigurationException(
                                 $"Closing square brackets can only appear once at the end of the environment variable value. Position: [{bracketPosition}]");
                         break;