diff --git a/host/chez/host-static.ss b/host/chez/host-static.ss
index 1ae92a5..1c574d3 100644
--- a/host/chez/host-static.ss
+++ b/host/chez/host-static.ss
@@ -514,9 +514,31 @@
                                   (error #f "NoSuchElementException")))))))
 
 ;; ---- String / BigInteger / MapEntry constructors ----------------------------
-;; (String. x) / (String. bytes): a bytevector decodes UTF-8; else stringify.
+;; (String. bytes [charset]) decodes bytes (a bytevector OR a jolt byte-array)
+;; with the named charset (UTF-8 default; ISO-8859-1/latin1/ascii = one byte per
+;; char); else stringify. clj-http-lite's body coercion is (String. ^[B body cs).
+(define (string-charset-name rest)
+  (if (pair? rest)
+      (let ((c (car rest)))
+        (cond ((string? c) c)
+              ((and (jhost? c) (string=? (jhost-tag c) "charset"))
+               (let ((p (assq 'name (jhost-state c)))) (if p (jolt-str-render-one (cdr p)) "UTF-8")))
+              (else "UTF-8")))
+      "UTF-8"))
+(define (decode-bytevector bv rest)
+  (let ((cs (ascii-string-down (string-charset-name rest))))
+    (cond
+      ((or (string=? cs "utf-8") (string=? cs "utf8")) (utf8->string bv))
+      ((or (string=? cs "iso-8859-1") (string=? cs "latin1") (string=? cs "iso8859-1")
+           (string=? cs "us-ascii") (string=? cs "ascii"))
+       (list->string (map integer->char (bytevector->u8-list bv))))
+      (else (guard (e (#t (list->string (map integer->char (bytevector->u8-list bv))))) (utf8->string bv))))))
 (register-class-ctor! "String"
-  (lambda (x . _) (cond ((bytevector? x) (utf8->string x)) ((string? x) x) (else (jolt-str-render-one x)))))
+  (lambda (x . rest)
+    (cond ((bytevector? x) (decode-bytevector x rest))
+          ((and (jolt-array? x) (eq? (jolt-array-kind x) 'byte)) (decode-bytevector (na-bytearray->bv x) rest))
+          ((string? x) x)
+          (else (jolt-str-render-one x)))))
 (register-class-ctor! "BigInteger"
   (lambda (v) (parse-int-or-throw v 10 "BigInteger")))
 (register-class-ctor! "MapEntry" (lambda (k v) (make-map-entry k v)))
diff --git a/host/chez/natives-array.ss b/host/chez/natives-array.ss
index 5f53cee..895fd85 100644
--- a/host/chez/natives-array.ss
+++ b/host/chez/natives-array.ss
@@ -46,10 +46,20 @@
     (else (make-jolt-array
            (list->vector (map (lambda (c) (if (char? c) c (integer->char (exact (truncate c)))))
                               (seq->list (jolt-seq a)))) 'char))))
+;; (byte-array n [init]) | (byte-array coll). Also coerces the host's OTHER byte
+;; carrier — a Chez bytevector (what String/.getBytes produce) — and a string's
+;; UTF-8 bytes, so bytevector and byte-array interconvert across interop seams.
 (define (na-byte-array a . rest)
-  (if (number? a)
-      (make-jolt-array (make-vector (exact (na-idx a)) (na-byte-of (if (pair? rest) (car rest) 0))) 'byte)
-      (make-jolt-array (list->vector (map na-byte-of (seq->list (jolt-seq a)))) 'byte)))
+  (cond
+    ((number? a) (make-jolt-array (make-vector (exact (na-idx a)) (na-byte-of (if (pair? rest) (car rest) 0))) 'byte))
+    ((bytevector? a) (make-jolt-array (list->vector (bytevector->u8-list a)) 'byte))
+    ((string? a) (make-jolt-array (list->vector (bytevector->u8-list (string->utf8 a))) 'byte))
+    (else (make-jolt-array (list->vector (map na-byte-of (seq->list (jolt-seq a)))) 'byte))))
+;; jolt byte-array -> Chez bytevector (for String decode / utf8->string).
+(define (na-bytearray->bv arr)
+  (let* ((v (jolt-array-vec arr)) (n (vector-length v)) (bv (make-bytevector n)))
+    (do ((i 0 (+ i 1))) ((= i n)) (bytevector-u8-set! bv i (bitwise-and (exact (vector-ref v i)) #xff)))
+    bv))
 (define (na-make-array a . rest)    ; (make-array len) | (make-array type len ...)
   (make-jolt-array (make-vector (exact (na-idx (if (number? a) a (car rest)))) jolt-nil) 'object))
 (define (na-into-array a . rest)    (na-from-seq (if (pair? rest) (car rest) a) 'object))
diff --git a/test/chez/unit.edn b/test/chez/unit.edn
index 53d2f2f..4593704 100644
--- a/test/chez/unit.edn
+++ b/test/chez/unit.edn
@@ -465,4 +465,11 @@
   {:suite "hostshim" :expr "(do (__register-class-ctor! \"Box4\" (fn [] (jolt.host/tagged-table :my/box4))) (__register-instance-check! (fn [cn val] (if (= cn \"Box4\") (= :my/box4 (jolt.host/ref-get val :jolt/type)) nil))) (instance? Box4 \"not-a-box\"))" :expected "false"}
   {:suite "hostshim" :expr "(jolt.host/table? (jolt.host/tagged-table :t))" :expected "true"}
   {:suite "hostshim" :expr "(jolt.host/table? \"x\")" :expected "false"}
+  {:suite "bytes" :expr "(seq (byte-array \"hi\"))" :expected "(104 105)"}
+  {:suite "bytes" :expr "(seq (byte-array (.getBytes \"AB\" \"UTF-8\")))" :expected "(65 66)"}
+  {:suite "bytes" :expr "(alength (byte-array (.getBytes \"hello\" \"UTF-8\")))" :expected "5"}
+  {:suite "bytes" :expr "(String. (byte-array [104 105]))" :expected "hi"}
+  {:suite "bytes" :expr "(String. (byte-array [104 105]) \"UTF-8\")" :expected "hi"}
+  {:suite "bytes" :expr "(int (first (String. (byte-array [200]) \"ISO-8859-1\")))" :expected "200"}
+  {:suite "bytes" :expr "(String. (.getBytes \"round\" \"UTF-8\") \"UTF-8\")" :expected "round"}
 ]