diff --git a/crates/nsh-core/src/reactive.rs b/crates/nsh-core/src/reactive.rs
index 54f3f7fba2..7a59125fc0 100644
--- a/crates/nsh-core/src/reactive.rs
+++ b/crates/nsh-core/src/reactive.rs
@@ -425,13 +425,22 @@ impl<H: Host> Graph<H> {
         self.nodes[id as usize].handle = true;
     }
 
+    /// Whether node `id`'s handle owns what the node holds: it is freed with
+    /// the handle ([`Self::drop_handle`]), as a signal or a disposed
+    /// computation is. A live computation belongs to its owner and outlives
+    /// its handle, so what it holds is not the handle's (a garbage collector
+    /// must not count it among the handle's children).
+    pub fn held_by_handle(&self, id: u32) -> bool {
+        let n = &self.nodes[id as usize];
+        n.kind == Kind::Signal || n.disposed
+    }
+
     /// The handle of node `id` went: a signal, or a disposed computation,
     /// is freed now (what it held comes back, to free once the graph is no
     /// longer borrowed).
     pub fn drop_handle(&mut self, id: u32) -> Option<Held<H>> {
-        let n = &mut self.nodes[id as usize];
-        n.handle = false;
-        if n.kind == Kind::Signal || n.disposed {
+        self.nodes[id as usize].handle = false;
+        if self.held_by_handle(id) {
             self.unlink_observers(id);
             Some(self.release(id))
         } else {
diff --git a/crates/nsh-js/src/reactive.rs b/crates/nsh-js/src/reactive.rs
index b1e4cffe7d..c56757a01b 100644
--- a/crates/nsh-js/src/reactive.rs
+++ b/crates/nsh-js/src/reactive.rs
@@ -533,7 +533,10 @@ unsafe extern "C" fn gc_mark(rt: *mut qjs::JSRuntime, obj: JsValue, mark: qjs::J
         return;
     }
     let (id, generation) = unpack(p);
-    if g.live(id, generation, GENERATION_MASK) {
+    // Only what the object owns: the value of a live memo is its node's,
+    // which its owner keeps after the object goes. Marked as the object's,
+    // a cycle through the object would free it under the graph.
+    if g.live(id, generation, GENERATION_MASK) && g.held_by_handle(id) {
         unsafe { qjs::JS_MarkValue(rt, *g.value(id), mark) };
         if let Some(f) = g.custom_equals(id) {
             unsafe { qjs::JS_MarkValue(rt, *f, mark) };
@@ -1473,6 +1476,37 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(after, before, "every signal collected");
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn a_live_memo_keeps_its_value_when_its_object_is_collected() {
+        // The memo's object goes, but its root does not: the node (and the
+        // value it holds) lives on in the graph. A cycle through the value
+        // must not let the collector free the value under the graph, which
+        // frees it again when the memo runs again or the graph goes.
+        let rt = rquickjs::Runtime::new().unwrap();
+        let cx = rquickjs::Context::full(&rt).unwrap();
+        cx.with(|cx| {
+            crate::state::install(&cx, std::rc::Rc::default(), &[], Default::default());
+            super::install_globals(&cx);
+            let _: () = cx
+                .eval(
+                    r#"
+                    const R = globalThis.__nsh_reactive;
+                    R.createRoot(() => {
+                        const m = R.createMemo(() => ({ n: 1 }));
+                        // A cycle: the value holds the memo's object.
+                        m().memo = m;
+                        globalThis.weak = new WeakRef(m());
+                    });
+                    "#,
+                )
+                .unwrap();
+        });
+        rt.run_gc();
+        let kept: bool = cx.with(|cx| cx.eval("globalThis.weak.deref()?.n === 1").unwrap());
+        assert!(kept, "the live memo's value was collected");
+        cx.with(|cx| crate::state::uninstall(&cx));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn effects_made_untracked_in_a_root_still_track() {
         // The renderer's shape: `render` (a root), `createComponent`