diff --git a/country-explorer/src/hooks/useFavorites.ts b/country-explorer/src/hooks/useFavorites.ts
index 1064245..2b74e04 100644
--- a/country-explorer/src/hooks/useFavorites.ts
+++ b/country-explorer/src/hooks/useFavorites.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,47 @@
-import { useCallback, useState } from 'react';
+import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from 'react';
+import { readLocalValue, writeLocalValue } from '../utils/localStorage';
+
+// sessionStorage/localStorage keys in this app are all namespaced by the
+// wrapper in utils/localStorage.ts; this is just the per-value suffix.
+const FAVORITES_STORAGE_KEY = 'favoriteCountryCodes';
+
+// A stored value is only trusted if it parses as a JSON array of non-empty
+// strings. Anything else — nothing saved yet, corrupted JSON, or a value
+// that isn't an array of strings — is treated as "no favorites saved" so a
+// broken or tampered-with value never crashes the app.
+function readStoredFavorites(): string[] {
+  const stored = readLocalValue(FAVORITES_STORAGE_KEY);
+  if (!stored) return [];
+
+  try {
+    const parsed: unknown = JSON.parse(stored);
+    if (!Array.isArray(parsed)) return [];
+
+    return parsed.filter((code): code is string => typeof code === 'string' && code.length > 0);
+  } catch {
+    return [];
+  }
+}
 
 /**
  * Tracks which countries the user has marked as favorites, identified by
  * their stable country code (the alpha-3 code already used as `Country.code`
  * everywhere else in the app).
  *
- * This only holds the in-memory React state — persisting favorites to
- * localStorage is handled separately.
+ * Only the country codes are persisted to localStorage — never the fetched
+ * country data itself — so favorites are retained after a reload and after
+ * the browser is closed and reopened.
  */
 export function useFavorites() {
-  const [favoriteCodes, setFavoriteCodes] = useState<string[]>([]);
+  // Lazily read any saved favorites on first render, so the app opens
+  // already showing what the user had saved before.
+  const [favoriteCodes, setFavoriteCodes] = useState<string[]>(() => readStoredFavorites());
+
+  // Re-persist whenever the favorite list changes (add, remove, or the
+  // initial load being replaced by a correction).
+  useEffect(() => {
+    writeLocalValue(FAVORITES_STORAGE_KEY, JSON.stringify(favoriteCodes));
+  }, [favoriteCodes]);
 
   const addFavorite = useCallback((code: string) => {
     // Guard against duplicates instead of relying on callers to check first.
diff --git a/country-explorer/src/utils/localStorage.ts b/country-explorer/src/utils/localStorage.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06569a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/country-explorer/src/utils/localStorage.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+/**
+ * Thin, defensive wrapper around localStorage for small, user-created state
+ * that should persist across browser sessions (e.g. favorites) — never the
+ * fetched country data itself. Keys are namespaced so they don't collide
+ * with anything else on the page, and every call is wrapped in a try/catch
+ * since storage can be unavailable or full (e.g. private browsing, quota
+ * exceeded) — a failed read/write should never crash the app.
+ */
+const NAMESPACE = 'country-explorer';
+
+function storageKey(key: string): string {
+  return `${NAMESPACE}:${key}`;
+}
+
+export function readLocalValue(key: string): string | null {
+  try {
+    return window.localStorage.getItem(storageKey(key));
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
+export function writeLocalValue(key: string, value: string): void {
+  try {
+    window.localStorage.setItem(storageKey(key), value);
+  } catch {
+    // Storage unavailable or full — the choice just won't persist.
+  }
+}