diff --git a/lib/edn/string_transformer.rb b/lib/edn/string_transformer.rb
index d8f8901..2a23ad3 100644
--- a/lib/edn/string_transformer.rb
+++ b/lib/edn/string_transformer.rb
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ module StringTransformer
     def self.parse_string(string)
       string = string.to_s
       return '' if string.empty?
+      string.force_encoding Encoding::ASCII_8BIT
       string = string.gsub(%r((?:\\[\\bfnrt"/]|(?:\\u(?:[A-Fa-f\d]{4}))+|\\[\x20-\xff]))n) do |c|
         #" Clear messed up syntax highlighting with Emacs.
         if u = UNESCAPE_MAP[$&[1]]
diff --git a/spec/edn/transform_spec.rb b/spec/edn/transform_spec.rb
index 2cbe755..b390d50 100644
--- a/spec/edn/transform_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/edn/transform_spec.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe EDN::Transform do
@@ -26,6 +27,12 @@
       subject.apply(:string => 'hello\n#{world}').should == "hello\n\#{world}"
     end
   end
+  
+  context "string-utf8" do
+    it "should emit a string that preserves utf-8 characters" do
+      subject.apply(:string => 'öhai world').should == "öhai world"
+    end
+  end
 
   context "keyword" do
     it "should emit a Ruby symbol" do