diff --git a/cjs/dom/parser.js b/cjs/dom/parser.js
index ecb31781..544a6ee8 100644
--- a/cjs/dom/parser.js
+++ b/cjs/dom/parser.js
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class DOMParser {
     if (isHTML && markupLanguage === '...')
       markupLanguage = '<!doctype html><html><head></head><body></body></html>';
     return markupLanguage ?
-            parseFromString(document, isHTML, markupLanguage) :
+            parseFromString(document, isHTML, markupLanguage, true) :
             document;
   }
 }
diff --git a/cjs/shared/parse-from-string.js b/cjs/shared/parse-from-string.js
index 84a9fdf3..61b6244d 100644
--- a/cjs/shared/parse-from-string.js
+++ b/cjs/shared/parse-from-string.js
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ const attribute = (element, end, attribute, value, active) => {
 const isNotParsing = () => notParsing;
 exports.isNotParsing = isNotParsing;
 
-const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage) => {
+const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage, isDocument = false) => {
   const {active, registry} = document[CUSTOM_ELEMENTS];
 
   let node = document;
@@ -60,6 +60,12 @@ const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage) => {
     onopentag(name, attributes) {
       let create = true;
       if (isHTML) {
+        // a top level <head> or <body> without <html> gets an implicit <html>,
+        // so document.head and document.body find the parsed elements
+        if (isDocument && node === document && (name === 'head' || name === 'body')) {
+          node = document.firstElementChild ||
+                  append(document, document.createElement('html'), false);
+        }
         if (ownerSVGElement) {
           node = append(node, document.createElementNS(SVG_NAMESPACE, name), active);
           node.ownerSVGElement = ownerSVGElement;
diff --git a/esm/dom/parser.js b/esm/dom/parser.js
index 1ca423d0..668c15ed 100644
--- a/esm/dom/parser.js
+++ b/esm/dom/parser.js
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export class DOMParser {
     if (isHTML && markupLanguage === '...')
       markupLanguage = '<!doctype html><html><head></head><body></body></html>';
     return markupLanguage ?
-            parseFromString(document, isHTML, markupLanguage) :
+            parseFromString(document, isHTML, markupLanguage, true) :
             document;
   }
 }
diff --git a/esm/shared/parse-from-string.js b/esm/shared/parse-from-string.js
index 08c6fe39..50b8d422 100644
--- a/esm/shared/parse-from-string.js
+++ b/esm/shared/parse-from-string.js
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ const attribute = (element, end, attribute, value, active) => {
 
 export const isNotParsing = () => notParsing;
 
-export const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage) => {
+export const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage, isDocument = false) => {
   const {active, registry} = document[CUSTOM_ELEMENTS];
 
   let node = document;
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@ export const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage) => {
     onopentag(name, attributes) {
       let create = true;
       if (isHTML) {
+        // a top level <head> or <body> without <html> gets an implicit <html>,
+        // so document.head and document.body find the parsed elements
+        if (isDocument && node === document && (name === 'head' || name === 'body')) {
+          node = document.firstElementChild ||
+                  append(document, document.createElement('html'), false);
+        }
         if (ownerSVGElement) {
           node = append(node, document.createElementNS(SVG_NAMESPACE, name), active);
           node.ownerSVGElement = ownerSVGElement;
diff --git a/test/html/document.js b/test/html/document.js
index b5e15062..e7607a3e 100644
--- a/test/html/document.js
+++ b/test/html/document.js
@@ -72,6 +72,12 @@ assert(typeof window.performance.now(), 'number');
 
 assert(parseHTML('<html><body><div>asdf</div></body></html>').document.body.outerHTML, '<body><div>asdf</div></body>');
 
+// issue #283: <body> without <html> still backs document.body
+const bodyOnly = parseHTML('<body><div class="whatever"></div></body>').document;
+assert(bodyOnly.body, bodyOnly.querySelector('body'));
+assert(bodyOnly.documentElement.outerHTML, '<html><head></head><body><div class="whatever"></div></body></html>');
+assert(parseHTML('<head><title>t</title></head><body><p></p></body>').document.documentElement.outerHTML, '<html><head><title>t</title></head><body><p></p></body></html>');
+
 const location = {href: 'http://ok'};
 const withLocation = parseHTML('<html></html>', {location});
 assert(withLocation.document.defaultView.location, location);
diff --git a/types/esm/shared/parse-from-string.d.ts b/types/esm/shared/parse-from-string.d.ts
index 1cda3495..e20dfcfd 100644
--- a/types/esm/shared/parse-from-string.d.ts
+++ b/types/esm/shared/parse-from-string.d.ts
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 export function isNotParsing(): boolean;
-export function parseFromString(document: any, isHTML: any, markupLanguage: any): any;
+export function parseFromString(document: any, isHTML: any, markupLanguage: any, isDocument?: boolean): any;
diff --git a/worker.js b/worker.js
index 31bb78a1..67a6da6f 100644
--- a/worker.js
+++ b/worker.js
@@ -2269,7 +2269,7 @@ const attribute = (element, end, attribute, value, active) => {
     attributeChangedCallback$1(element, attribute.name, null, value);
 };
 
-const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage) => {
+const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage, isDocument = false) => {
   const {active, registry} = document[CUSTOM_ELEMENTS];
 
   let node = document;
@@ -2287,6 +2287,12 @@ const parseFromString = (document, isHTML, markupLanguage) => {
     onopentag(name, attributes) {
       let create = true;
       if (isHTML) {
+        // a top level <head> or <body> without <html> gets an implicit <html>,
+        // so document.head and document.body find the parsed elements
+        if (isDocument && node === document && (name === 'head' || name === 'body')) {
+          node = document.firstElementChild ||
+                  append$2(document, document.createElement('html'), false);
+        }
         if (ownerSVGElement) {
           node = append$2(node, document.createElementNS(SVG_NAMESPACE, name), active);
           node.ownerSVGElement = ownerSVGElement;
@@ -17665,7 +17671,7 @@ class DOMParser {
     if (isHTML && markupLanguage === '...')
       markupLanguage = '<!doctype html><html><head></head><body></body></html>';
     return markupLanguage ?
-            parseFromString(document, isHTML, markupLanguage) :
+            parseFromString(document, isHTML, markupLanguage, true) :
             document;
   }
 }