diff --git a/src/box/sophia_index.cc b/src/box/sophia_index.cc
index cc5adaf39fe9c42f8a646ee0732a29c6ca4a1bc5..b6e31cb2cd9322bff57e8107d7b4213385dc0a16 100644
--- a/src/box/sophia_index.cc
+++ b/src/box/sophia_index.cc
@@ -152,6 +152,8 @@ SophiaIndex::createObject(const char *key, bool async, const char **keyend)
 			part = (char *)&num_parts[i];
 			partsize = sizeof(uint64_t);
 		}
+		if (partsize == 0)
+			part = "";
 		if (sp_setstring(obj, partname, part, partsize) == -1)
 			sophia_error(env);
 		i++;
diff --git a/test/sophia/gh.result b/test/sophia/gh.result
index 7c8f9e5139886713b29cd69372b7d9acc2db9b8d..53395769805fd21f287e45195c18b4feacae169b 100644
--- a/test/sophia/gh.result
+++ b/test/sophia/gh.result
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ t = s:select({''},{iterator='GT', limit =1})
 ...
 t
 ---
-- - ['11']
+- - ['1']
 ...
 t = s:select({},{iterator='GT', limit =1})
 ---
@@ -150,3 +150,24 @@ box.space.t:insert{1,'A'}
 s:drop()
 ---
 ...
+-- gh-1009: search for empty string fails
+s = box.schema.space.create('t', {engine='sophia'})
+---
+...
+i = s:create_index('primary',{parts={1, 'STR'}})
+---
+...
+s:insert{''}
+---
+...
+#i:select{''}
+---
+- 1
+...
+i:get{''}
+---
+- ['']
+...
+s:drop()
+---
+...
diff --git a/test/sophia/gh.test.lua b/test/sophia/gh.test.lua
index d820e911215d479395b0a52cf96c5b9cf13d7aab..25ed9329e1e127d5433f340bdb841ce4c9912fb9 100644
--- a/test/sophia/gh.test.lua
+++ b/test/sophia/gh.test.lua
@@ -63,3 +63,12 @@ s = box.schema.space.create('t', {engine='sophia'})
 i = s:create_index('primary',{parts={1, 'STR'}})
 box.space.t:insert{1,'A'}
 s:drop()
+
+
+-- gh-1009: search for empty string fails
+s = box.schema.space.create('t', {engine='sophia'})
+i = s:create_index('primary',{parts={1, 'STR'}})
+s:insert{''}
+#i:select{''}
+i:get{''}
+s:drop()
diff --git a/third_party/sophia b/third_party/sophia
index 1dc584e3c6bc425fa4f9dd8afdaca59a482a13cd..ce1607f5634587d6b8a7759f823b0d07d992ea8d 160000
--- a/third_party/sophia
+++ b/third_party/sophia
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 1dc584e3c6bc425fa4f9dd8afdaca59a482a13cd
+Subproject commit ce1607f5634587d6b8a7759f823b0d07d992ea8d