diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/readability/readability.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/readability/readability.py
index a445b71691..a6e0a4ce5f 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/readability/readability.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/readability/readability.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import re
 import sys
 from collections import defaultdict
 
+from lxml import etree
 from lxml.html import tostring as htostring
 
 from calibre.ebooks.readability.cleaners import clean_attributes, html_cleaner
@@ -66,8 +67,14 @@ def clean(text):
     return text.strip()
 
 
+def text_content(elem):
+    if hasattr(elem, 'text_content'):
+        return elem.text_content()
+    return etree.tostring(elem, method='text', encoding='unicode')
+
+
 def text_length(i):
-    return len(clean(i.text_content() or ''))
+    return len(clean(text_content(i) or ''))
 
 
 class Unparsable(ValueError):
@@ -223,7 +230,7 @@ class Document:
                 continue
             grand_parent_node = parent_node.getparent()
 
-            inner_text = clean(elem.text_content() or '')
+            inner_text = clean(text_content(elem) or '')
             inner_text_len = len(inner_text)
 
             # If this paragraph is less than 25 characters, don't even count it.
@@ -367,7 +374,7 @@ class Document:
             if weight + content_score < 0:
                 self.debug(f'Cleaned {describe(el)} with score {content_score:6.3f} and weight {weight:<3}')
                 el.drop_tree()
-            elif el.text_content().count(',') < 10:
+            elif text_content(el).count(',') < 10:
                 counts = {}
                 for kind in ['p', 'img', 'li', 'a', 'embed', 'input']:
                     counts[kind] = len(el.findall(f'.//{kind}'))
@@ -428,7 +435,7 @@ class Document:
                 #             break
                 #     if valid_img:
                 #         to_remove = False
-                #         self.debug("Allowing %s" %el.text_content())
+                #         self.debug("Allowing %s" %text_content(el))
                 #         for desnode in self.tags(el, "table", "ul", "div"):
                 #             allowed[desnode] = True
 
@@ -437,7 +444,7 @@ class Document:
                     x  = 1
                     siblings = []
                     for sib in el.itersiblings():
-                        # self.debug(sib.text_content())
+                        # self.debug(text_content(sib))
                         sib_content_length = text_length(sib)
                         if sib_content_length:
                             i += 1
@@ -445,7 +452,7 @@ class Document:
                             if i == x:
                                 break
                     for sib in el.itersiblings(preceding=True):
-                        # self.debug(sib.text_content())
+                        # self.debug(text_content(sib))
                         sib_content_length = text_length(sib)
                         if sib_content_length:
                             j =+ 1