diff --git a/src/Factory/EntityFactory.php b/src/Factory/EntityFactory.php
index 3fd35739..97d76fd5 100644
--- a/src/Factory/EntityFactory.php
+++ b/src/Factory/EntityFactory.php
@@ -183,6 +183,34 @@ class: $entity[\Spameri\Elastic\Model\Insert\PrepareEntityArray::ENTITY_CLASS],
 							);
 						}
 
+					} elseif (
+						$attribute->getName() === \Spameri\Elastic\Mapping\ValueCollection::class
+					) {
+						/** @var array{class: class-string} $arguments */
+						$arguments = $attribute->getArguments();
+
+						// The mirror of PrepareEntityArray's ValueCollectionInterface
+						// branch, which writes value() for each member and so leaves a
+						// flat list of scalars in the document. Rebuilding one member
+						// per scalar is the whole of it; there are no nested properties
+						// to resolve, and looking for them under `field.*` is what this
+						// used to do by falling through to the tail below - producing an
+						// empty collection, silently, on every single read.
+						$propertyValue = new $propertyTypeName();
+
+						if (\is_array($value)) {
+							foreach ($value as $item) {
+								if ($item === null || $item === '') {
+									continue;
+								}
+
+								$collectionValue = new $arguments['class']($item);
+								$propertyValue->add($collectionValue);
+
+								$this->changeSet->markExisting($collectionValue);
+							}
+						}
+
 					} elseif (
 						$attribute->getName() === \Spameri\Elastic\Mapping\STIEntity::class
 					) {
diff --git a/src/Mapping/ValueCollection.php b/src/Mapping/ValueCollection.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3aed959
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Mapping/ValueCollection.php
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<?php declare(strict_types = 1);
+
+namespace Spameri\Elastic\Mapping;
+
+/**
+ * A collection of value objects, stored as a flat list of scalars.
+ *
+ * The class is named for the same reason ElasticCollection names one: the
+ * document holds ["Action", "Drama"] and nothing else, so the value type
+ * cannot be recovered from what was written. Without it the collection can be
+ * written but never read back.
+ */
+#[\Attribute(\Attribute::TARGET_PROPERTY|\Attribute::TARGET_PARAMETER)]
+class ValueCollection
+{
+
+
+	public function __construct(
+		public string $class,
+	)
+	{
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/tests/SpameriTests/Elastic/Data/Entity/EntityWithValueCollection.php b/tests/SpameriTests/Elastic/Data/Entity/EntityWithValueCollection.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4e25917c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/SpameriTests/Elastic/Data/Entity/EntityWithValueCollection.php
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+<?php declare(strict_types = 1);
+
+namespace SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity;
+
+/**
+ * Entity with a collection of value objects, stored as a flat list of scalars.
+ *
+ * Distinct from EntityWithCollection, whose members are nested objects with
+ * properties of their own: a value collection round-trips through
+ * ["Action", "Drama"], not through a list of documents.
+ */
+class EntityWithValueCollection extends \Spameri\Elastic\Entity\AbstractElasticEntity
+{
+
+	/**
+	 * @param \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\Video\Details\GenreCollection<\SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\Video\Details\Genre> $genres
+	 */
+	public function __construct(
+		#[\Spameri\Elastic\Mapping\Entity(class: \Spameri\Elastic\Entity\Property\ElasticId::class)]
+		public \Spameri\Elastic\Entity\Property\ElasticIdInterface $id,
+		#[\Spameri\Elastic\Mapping\ValueCollection(class: \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\Video\Details\Genre::class)]
+		public \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\Video\Details\GenreCollection $genres,
+	)
+	{
+		parent::__construct($id);
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/tests/SpameriTests/Elastic/Factory/EntityFactory/ValueCollectionTest.phpt b/tests/SpameriTests/Elastic/Factory/EntityFactory/ValueCollectionTest.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..06d5f6c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/SpameriTests/Elastic/Factory/EntityFactory/ValueCollectionTest.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+<?php declare(strict_types = 1);
+
+namespace SpameriTests\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory;
+
+require_once __DIR__ . '/../../../../bootstrap.php';
+
+/**
+ * A value collection is written as a flat list of scalars and has to come back
+ * as the same list of value objects.
+ *
+ * PrepareEntityArray has always known how: it walks a ValueCollectionInterface
+ * and writes value() for each member. EntityFactory did not, so the property
+ * fell through to the generic "instantiate from nested properties" tail, where
+ * the collection's own properties are looked for under `genres.*` — nothing is
+ * stored there, because the document holds `genres: ["Action"]` — and every
+ * read produced an empty collection.
+ *
+ * Nothing reported an error. The data was in Elasticsearch, indexed and
+ * searchable, and simply never reached anything that read an entity.
+ *
+ * @testCase
+ */
+class ValueCollectionTest extends \SpameriTests\Elastic\AbstractTestCase
+{
+
+	public function testValueCollectionSurvivesTheRoundTrip(): void
+	{
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\EntityManager $entityManager */
+		$entityManager = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\EntityManager::class);
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory $entityFactory */
+		$entityFactory = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory::class);
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\Model\Insert\PrepareEntityArray $prepareEntityArray */
+		$prepareEntityArray = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\Model\Insert\PrepareEntityArray::class);
+
+		$entity = new \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection(
+			new \Spameri\Elastic\Entity\Property\ElasticId('vc-1'),
+			new \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\Video\Details\GenreCollection(
+				new \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\Video\Details\Genre('Action'),
+				new \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\Video\Details\Genre('Science Fiction'),
+			),
+		);
+
+		$source = $prepareEntityArray->prepare($entity);
+
+		// What the write side puts in the document: a flat list of scalars.
+		\Tester\Assert::same(['Action', 'Science Fiction'], $source['genres']);
+
+		$hit = new \Spameri\ElasticQuery\Response\Result\Hit(
+			source: $source,
+			position: 0, index: '', type: '', id: 'vc-1', score: 0.0, version: 0,
+		);
+
+		/** @var \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection $hydrated */
+		$hydrated = $entityFactory->create(
+			$hit,
+			\SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection::class,
+			$entityManager,
+		);
+
+		$genres = [];
+		foreach ($hydrated->genres as $genre) {
+			$genres[] = $genre->value();
+		}
+
+		\Tester\Assert::same(['Action', 'Science Fiction'], $genres);
+	}
+
+
+	public function testAnEmptyValueCollectionStaysEmpty(): void
+	{
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\EntityManager $entityManager */
+		$entityManager = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\EntityManager::class);
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory $entityFactory */
+		$entityFactory = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory::class);
+
+		$hit = new \Spameri\ElasticQuery\Response\Result\Hit(
+			source: ['genres' => []],
+			position: 0, index: '', type: '', id: 'vc-2', score: 0.0, version: 0,
+		);
+
+		/** @var \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection $hydrated */
+		$hydrated = $entityFactory->create(
+			$hit,
+			\SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection::class,
+			$entityManager,
+		);
+
+		\Tester\Assert::same(0, \iterator_count($hydrated->genres->getIterator()));
+	}
+
+
+	public function testAnAbsentValueCollectionIsNotAnError(): void
+	{
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\EntityManager $entityManager */
+		$entityManager = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\EntityManager::class);
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory $entityFactory */
+		$entityFactory = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory::class);
+
+		// A document written before the field existed. It has to read as empty
+		// rather than throw, or one old document takes down a whole index.
+		$hit = new \Spameri\ElasticQuery\Response\Result\Hit(
+			source: [],
+			position: 0, index: '', type: '', id: 'vc-3', score: 0.0, version: 0,
+		);
+
+		/** @var \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection $hydrated */
+		$hydrated = $entityFactory->create(
+			$hit,
+			\SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection::class,
+			$entityManager,
+		);
+
+		\Tester\Assert::same(0, \iterator_count($hydrated->genres->getIterator()));
+	}
+
+
+	public function testNullMembersAreNotTurnedIntoValues(): void
+	{
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\EntityManager $entityManager */
+		$entityManager = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\EntityManager::class);
+		/** @var \Spameri\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory $entityFactory */
+		$entityFactory = $this->container->getByType(\Spameri\Elastic\Factory\EntityFactory::class);
+
+		$hit = new \Spameri\ElasticQuery\Response\Result\Hit(
+			source: ['genres' => ['Action', NULL, '', 'Drama']],
+			position: 0, index: '', type: '', id: 'vc-4', score: 0.0, version: 0,
+		);
+
+		/** @var \SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection $hydrated */
+		$hydrated = $entityFactory->create(
+			$hit,
+			\SpameriTests\Elastic\Data\Entity\EntityWithValueCollection::class,
+			$entityManager,
+		);
+
+		$genres = [];
+		foreach ($hydrated->genres as $genre) {
+			$genres[] = $genre->value();
+		}
+
+		\Tester\Assert::same(['Action', 'Drama'], $genres);
+	}
+
+}
+
+(new ValueCollectionTest())->run();