diff --git a/bypy/sources.json b/bypy/sources.json
index 3f74e1e48c..3ffe389537 100644
--- a/bypy/sources.json
+++ b/bypy/sources.json
@@ -1156,5 +1156,16 @@
             "hash": "sha256:c3f9e322b1ebeebd44e3d9d2d9b124e0c550c1ef41bd552afdcdd719516ee41a",
             "urls": ["pypi"]
         }
+    },
+    {
+        "name": "piper",
+		"os": "linux",
+        "unix": {
+            "filename": "piper-2023.11.14.tar.gz",
+            "hash": "sha256:8b684e102cfe23af097830db9555a8641f17735725853c531a1daeb34b6ed1a8",
+            "urls": ["https://github.com/rhasspy/piper/archive/refs/tags/2023.11.14-2.tar.gz"]
+        }
     }
+
+
 ]
diff --git a/setup/unix-ci.py b/setup/unix-ci.py
index b8fdfbabea..4140170190 100644
--- a/setup/unix-ci.py
+++ b/setup/unix-ci.py
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ username = api
     elif action == 'test':
         os.environ['CI'] = 'true'
         os.environ['OPENSSL_MODULES'] = os.path.join(SW, 'lib', 'ossl-modules')
+        os.environ['PIPER_TTS_DIR'] = os.path.join(SW, 'piper')
         if ismacos:
             os.environ['SSL_CERT_FILE'] = os.path.abspath(
                 'resources/mozilla-ca-certs.pem')
diff --git a/src/calibre/constants.py b/src/calibre/constants.py
index 8a9a6f124e..f94c84e049 100644
--- a/src/calibre/constants.py
+++ b/src/calibre/constants.py
@@ -505,3 +505,18 @@ def bundled_binaries_dir() -> str:
     if (islinux or isbsd) and getattr(sys, 'frozen', False):
         return os.path.join(sys.executables_location, 'bin')
     return ''
+
+
+@lru_cache(2)
+def piper_cmdline() -> tuple[str, ...]:
+    ext = '.exe' if iswindows else ''
+    if bbd := bundled_binaries_dir():
+        # TODO: Add path to espeak-ng-data with --
+        return (os.path.join(bbd, 'piper' + ext),)
+    if pd := os.environ.get('PIPER_TTS_DIR'):
+        return (os.path.join(pd, 'piper' + ext),)
+    import shutil
+    exe = shutil.which('piper-tts')
+    if exe:
+        return (exe,)
+    return ()
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/tts/piper.py b/src/calibre/gui2/tts/piper.py
index 2eaf73d2bf..21f5f12c3d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/tts/piper.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/tts/piper.py
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ from qt.core import (
     sip,
 )
 
-from calibre.constants import cache_dir, is_debugging
+from calibre.constants import cache_dir, is_debugging, piper_cmdline
 from calibre.gui2 import error_dialog
-from calibre.gui2.tts.types import EngineSpecificSettings, Quality, TTSBackend, Voice, piper_cmdline, widget_parent
+from calibre.gui2.tts.types import EngineSpecificSettings, Quality, TTSBackend, Voice, widget_parent
 from calibre.spell.break_iterator import PARAGRAPH_SEPARATOR, split_into_sentences_for_tts
 from calibre.utils.localization import canonicalize_lang, get_lang
 from calibre.utils.resources import get_path as P
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/tts/types.py b/src/calibre/gui2/tts/types.py
index dc9918e6b7..34f3fa7729 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/tts/types.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/tts/types.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from typing import Literal, NamedTuple
 
 from qt.core import QApplication, QLocale, QObject, QTextToSpeech, QVoice, QWidget, pyqtSignal
 
-from calibre.constants import bundled_binaries_dir, islinux, ismacos, iswindows
+from calibre.constants import islinux, ismacos, iswindows, piper_cmdline
 from calibre.utils.config import JSONConfig
 from calibre.utils.config_base import tweaks
 from calibre.utils.localization import canonicalize_lang
@@ -21,20 +21,6 @@ def load_config() -> JSONConfig:
     return JSONConfig(CONFIG_NAME)
 
 
-@lru_cache(2)
-def piper_cmdline() -> tuple[str, ...]:
-    ext = '.exe' if iswindows else ''
-    if bbd := bundled_binaries_dir():
-        # TODO: Add path to espeak-ng-data with --
-        return (os.path.join(bbd, 'piper' + ext),)
-    import shutil
-    exe = shutil.which('piper-tts')
-    if exe:
-        return (exe,)
-    return ()
-
-
-
 class TrackingCapability(Enum):
     NoTracking: int = auto()
     WordByWord: int = auto()
diff --git a/src/calibre/test_build.py b/src/calibre/test_build.py
index 6cd53e0fe4..50c2066ab8 100644
--- a/src/calibre/test_build.py
+++ b/src/calibre/test_build.py
@@ -123,6 +123,15 @@ class BuildTest(unittest.TestCase):
         from speechd.client import SSIPClient
         del SSIPClient
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(islinux, 'Piper only used on Linux')
+    def test_piper(self):
+        import subprocess
+
+        from calibre.constants import piper_cmdline
+        self.assertTrue(piper_cmdline())
+        raw = subprocess.check_output(piper_cmdline() + ('-h',), stderr=subprocess.STDOUT).decode()
+        self.assertIn('--sentence_silence', raw)
+
     def test_zeroconf(self):
         import ifaddr
         import zeroconf as z