diff --git a/src/nwb/base/TimeSeries.hpp b/src/nwb/base/TimeSeries.hpp
index 750ff1b..0266c91 100644
--- a/src/nwb/base/TimeSeries.hpp
+++ b/src/nwb/base/TimeSeries.hpp
@@ -100,5 +100,11 @@ class TimeSeries : public Container
                float,
                "data/resolution",
                Smallest meaningful difference between values in data.)
+
+  DEFINE_FIELD(descriptionLazy,
+               AttributeField,
+               std::string,
+               "description",
+               Description of the series)
 };
 }  // namespace AQNWB::NWB
diff --git a/tests/examples/test_ecephys_data_read.cpp b/tests/examples/test_ecephys_data_read.cpp
index e87f903..9f013a2 100644
--- a/tests/examples/test_ecephys_data_read.cpp
+++ b/tests/examples/test_ecephys_data_read.cpp
@@ -196,6 +196,15 @@ TEST_CASE("ElectricalSeriesReadExample", "[ecephys]")
     auto readBoostMulitArray = readDataValues.as_multi_array<2>();
     // [example_read_only_snippet]
 
+    // Test that reading a string attribute works
+    auto esDescr = electricalSeries->descriptionLazy();
+    auto esDescrData = esDescr->values();
+    REQUIRE(esDescrData.data.size() == 1);
+    REQUIRE(esDescrData.shape.size() == 0);
+    REQUIRE(esDescrData.data[0]
+            == std::string("Stores continuously sampled voltage data from an "
+                           "extracellular ephys recording"));
+
     // TODO Slicing doesn't seem to work quite yet. The full data is loaded
     // instead. Let's read the first 10 timesteps for the first two channels
     /*DataBlock<float> dataSlice = readDataWrapper->values<float>(