diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/import_book.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/import_book.py
index 5c014b89ad..0275f70e8b 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/import_book.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/import_book.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ def import_book_as_epub(srcpath, destpath, log=default_log):
     if not destpath.lower().endswith('.epub'):
         raise ValueError('Can only import books into the EPUB format, not %s' % (os.path.basename(destpath)))
     with TemporaryDirectory('eei') as tdir:
+        tdir = os.path.abspath(os.path.realpath(tdir))  # Needed to handle the multiple levels of symlinks for /tmp on OS X
         plumber = Plumber(srcpath, tdir, log)
         plumber.setup_options()
         if srcpath.lower().endswith('.opf'):