diff --git a/packet.go b/packet.go
index 5afcff1..1461ede 100644
--- a/packet.go
+++ b/packet.go
@@ -48,3 +48,8 @@ func unmarshalUint64(b []byte) (uint64, []byte) {
 	l, b := unmarshalUint32(b)
 	return uint64(h)<<32 | uint64(l), b
 }
+
+func unmarshalString(b []byte) (string, []byte) {
+	n, b := unmarshalUint32(b)
+	return string(b[:n]), b[n:]
+}
diff --git a/packet_test.go b/packet_test.go
index 6c39897..3d8999e 100644
--- a/packet_test.go
+++ b/packet_test.go
@@ -128,3 +128,21 @@ func TestUnmarshalUint64(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+var unmarshalStringTests = []struct {
+	b    []byte
+	want string
+	rest []byte
+}{
+	{marshalString(nil, ""), "", nil},
+	{marshalString(nil, "blah"), "blah", nil},
+}
+
+func TestUnmarshalString(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tt := range unmarshalStringTests {
+		got, rest := unmarshalString(tt.b)
+		if got != tt.want || !bytes.Equal(rest, tt.rest) {
+			t.Errorf("unmarshalUint64(%v): want %q, %#v, got %q, %#v", tt.b, tt.want, tt.rest, got, rest)
+		}
+	}
+}