diff --git a/lib/neography/connection.rb b/lib/neography/connection.rb
index c7dde90..c7e5e2a 100644
--- a/lib/neography/connection.rb
+++ b/lib/neography/connection.rb
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ def evaluate_response(response)
         code, body, parsed = handle_batch(response)
       else
         code = response.code
-        body = response.body
+        body = response.body.force_encoding("UTF-8")
         parsed = false
       end
       return_result(code, body, parsed)
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ def evaluate_response(response)
 
     def handle_batch(response)
       code = 200
-      body = @parser.json(response.body)
+      body = @parser.json(response.body.force_encoding("UTF-8"))
       body.each do |result|
         if result["status"] >= 400
           code = result["status"]