diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 36b97dd4..6e40ec88 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -166,6 +166,13 @@ address = Address.parse(ADDRESS_XML_DATA, single: true)
 The first one returns an array and we return the first instance, the second
 will do that work for us inside of parse.
 
+#### Encoding
+Encoding can be passed as an option to a `parse` to explicitly set the encoding to an XML.
+
+```ruby
+address = Address.parse(ADDRESS_XML_DATA, single: true, encoding: 'UTF-8')
+```
+
 ### Multiple Elements Mapping
 
 What if our address XML was a little different, perhaps we allowed multiple
diff --git a/lib/happymapper.rb b/lib/happymapper.rb
index 0f5c75eb..754a4114 100644
--- a/lib/happymapper.rb
+++ b/lib/happymapper.rb
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@ def with_nokogiri_config(&blk)
     #     to retuning an array of multiple items.
     #     :xpath information where to start the parsing
     #     :namespace is the namespace to use for additional information.
+    #     :encoding explicitly set the encoding to Nokogiri::XML document
     #
     def parse(xml, options = {})
       # Capture any provided namespaces and merge in any namespaces that have
@@ -309,8 +310,9 @@ def parse(xml, options = {})
         unless xml.is_a?(Nokogiri::XML::Document)
           # Attempt to parse the xml value with Nokogiri XML as a document
           # and select the root element
+          encoding = options[:encoding]
           xml = Nokogiri::XML(
-            xml, nil, nil,
+            xml, nil, encoding,
             Nokogiri::XML::ParseOptions::STRICT,
             &nokogiri_config_callback
           )
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/address.xml b/spec/fixtures/address.xml
index 1460877f..29077133 100644
--- a/spec/fixtures/address.xml
+++ b/spec/fixtures/address.xml
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@
   <city>Oldenburg</city>
   <country code="de">Germany</country>
   <state>Lower Saxony</state>
-</address>
\ No newline at end of file
+</address>
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/optional_attributes.xml b/spec/fixtures/optional_attributes.xml
index 860d305d..dc895aab 100644
--- a/spec/fixtures/optional_attributes.xml
+++ b/spec/fixtures/optional_attributes.xml
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@
   <address street=""/>
   <address street="Milchstrasse"/>
   <address />
-</addresses>
\ No newline at end of file
+</addresses>
diff --git a/spec/happymapper_spec.rb b/spec/happymapper_spec.rb
index e97c6c02..0ec26e1c 100644
--- a/spec/happymapper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/happymapper_spec.rb
@@ -1208,4 +1208,12 @@ class Thing
       end
     end
   end
+
+  context 'encoding' do
+    it 'allows passing :encoding option to fix special characters when parsing xml' do
+      xml = %(<address><street>Milchstrasse ÄÖÜ</street><housenumber>23</housenumber></address>)
+      address = Address.parse(xml, encoding: 'UTF-8')
+      expect(address.street).to eq('Milchstrasse ÄÖÜ')
+    end
+  end
 end