diff --git a/Sources/SQLyra/Database.swift b/Sources/SQLyra/Database.swift
index de55912..cef1500 100644
--- a/Sources/SQLyra/Database.swift
+++ b/Sources/SQLyra/Database.swift
@@ -133,6 +133,6 @@ public final class Database: DatabaseHandle {
     public func prepare(_ sql: String) throws -> PreparedStatement {
         var stmt: OpaquePointer!
         try check(sqlite3_prepare_v2(db, sql, -1, &stmt, nil))
-        return PreparedStatement(stmt: stmt)
+        return PreparedStatement(stmt: stmt, database: self)
     }
 }
diff --git a/Sources/SQLyra/PreparedStatement.swift b/Sources/SQLyra/PreparedStatement.swift
index 57bfd16..0887706 100644
--- a/Sources/SQLyra/PreparedStatement.swift
+++ b/Sources/SQLyra/PreparedStatement.swift
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import SQLite3
 /// Or, in other words, these routines are constructors for the prepared statement object.
 public final class PreparedStatement: DatabaseHandle {
     let stmt: OpaquePointer
+    let database: Database  // release database after all statements
 
     /// Find the database handle of a prepared statement.
     var db: OpaquePointer! { sqlite3_db_handle(stmt) }
@@ -17,8 +18,9 @@ public final class PreparedStatement: DatabaseHandle {
         }
     )
 
-    init(stmt: OpaquePointer) {
+    init(stmt: OpaquePointer, database: Database) {
         self.stmt = stmt
+        self.database = database
     }
 
     deinit {
diff --git a/Tests/SQLyraTests/PreparedStatementTests.swift b/Tests/SQLyraTests/PreparedStatementTests.swift
index f75d3ec..a154699 100644
--- a/Tests/SQLyraTests/PreparedStatementTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/SQLyraTests/PreparedStatementTests.swift
@@ -114,4 +114,18 @@ struct PreparedStatementTests {
             """
         #expect(df.description == expected + "\n")
     }
+
+    @Test static func retainDatabase() throws {
+        weak var db: Database?
+        var statement: PreparedStatement?
+        do {
+            let suite = try PreparedStatementTests()
+            db = suite.db
+            statement = try suite.db.prepare("SELECT * FROM contacts;")
+        }
+        try #require(statement != nil)
+        #expect(db != nil)
+        statement = nil
+        #expect(db == nil)
+    }
 }