diff --git a/src/Text/Sundown/Html.hs b/src/Text/Sundown/Html.hs
--- a/src/Text/Sundown/Html.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Sundown/Html.hs
@@ -20,12 +20,12 @@
     ) where
 
 import Data.ByteString (ByteString)
-import qualified Data.ByteString.UTF8 as BS
 import Data.Text (Text)
+import qualified Data.Text as T
 import qualified Data.Text.Encoding as T
 
 import Text.Sundown.Foreign
-import Text.Sundown.Html.ByteString (noHtmlModes, allHtmlModes, HtmlRenderMode(..))
+import Text.Sundown.Html.ByteString (noHtmlModes, allHtmlModes)
 import qualified Text.Sundown.Html.ByteString as BS
 import Text.Sundown.Html.Foreign
 
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@
 instance ToBS   ByteString where toBS   = id
 instance FromBS ByteString where fromBS = id
 
-instance ToBS   [Char]     where toBS   = BS.fromString
-instance FromBS [Char]     where fromBS = BS.toString
+instance ToBS   [Char]     where toBS   = T.encodeUtf8 . T.pack
+instance FromBS [Char]     where fromBS = T.unpack . T.decodeUtf8
 
 instance ToBS   Text       where toBS   = T.encodeUtf8
 instance FromBS Text       where fromBS = T.decodeUtf8
diff --git a/sundown.cabal b/sundown.cabal
--- a/sundown.cabal
+++ b/sundown.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Cabal-version:      >= 1.6
 Name:               sundown
-Version:            0.5.2
+Version:            0.5.3
 Author:             Francesco Mazzoli (f@mazzo.li)
 Maintainer:         Francesco Mazzoli (f@mazzo.li)
 Build-Type:         Simple
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
     Hs-Source-Dirs:   src
     Build-Depends:    base >= 3 && < 5,
                       bytestring,
-                      utf8-string >= 0.3,
                       text
     GHC-Options:      -Wall -O2 -fno-cse
     Extensions:       EmptyDataDecls, ForeignFunctionInterface