diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/main.ui b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/main.ui
index 3137ad2e07..4a54ac189d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/main.ui
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/main.ui
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
       <property name="orientation">
        <enum>Qt::Horizontal</enum>
       </property>
-      <widget class="QTreeView" name="toc"/>
+      <widget class="TOCView" name="toc"/>
       <widget class="QFrame" name="frame">
        <property name="frameShape">
         <enum>QFrame::StyledPanel</enum>
@@ -322,6 +322,11 @@
    <header>calibre/gui2/viewer/documentview.h</header>
    <container>1</container>
   </customwidget>
+  <customwidget>
+   <class>TOCView</class>
+   <extends>QTreeView</extends>
+   <header>calibre/gui2/viewer/toc.h</header>
+  </customwidget>
  </customwidgets>
  <resources>
   <include location="../../../../resources/images.qrc"/>
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/toc.py b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/toc.py
index ae11c17065..7beefca8b8 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/toc.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/viewer/toc.py
@@ -9,10 +9,41 @@ __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
 import re
 from PyQt4.Qt import (QStandardItem, QStandardItemModel, Qt, QFont,
-        QApplication)
+        QTreeView)
 
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.toc import TOC as MTOC
 
+class TOCView(QTreeView):
+
+    def __init__(self, *args):
+        QTreeView.__init__(self, *args)
+        self.setAttribute(Qt.WA_OpaquePaintEvent, False)
+        self.setStyleSheet('''
+                QTreeView {
+                    background-color: palette(window);
+                    color: palette(text);
+                }
+                QTreeView::item {
+                    border: none;
+                    padding-top:0.5ex;
+                    padding-bottom:0.5ex;
+                }
+
+                QTreeView::item:hover {
+                    background: qlineargradient(x1: 0, y1: 0, x2: 0, y2: 1, stop: 0 #e7effd, stop: 1 #cbdaf1);
+                    border: 1px solid #bfcde4;
+                }
+                QHeaderView::section {
+                    background-color: qlineargradient(x1:0, y1:0, x2:0, y2:1,
+                                                    stop:0 #616161, stop: 0.5 #505050,
+                                                    stop: 0.6 #434343, stop:1 #656565);
+                    color: white;
+                    padding-left: 4px;
+                    border: 1px solid #6c6c6c;
+                    font-weight: bold;
+                }
+        ''')
+
 class TOCItem(QStandardItem):
 
     def __init__(self, spine, toc, depth, all_items, parent=None):
@@ -25,9 +56,6 @@ class TOCItem(QStandardItem):
         self.abspath = toc.abspath
         self.fragment = toc.fragment
         all_items.append(self)
-        p = QApplication.palette()
-        self.base = p.base()
-        self.alternate_base = p.alternateBase()
         self.bold_font = QFont(self.font())
         self.bold_font.setBold(True)
         self.normal_font = self.font()
@@ -105,8 +133,6 @@ class TOCItem(QStandardItem):
         self.is_being_viewed = is_being_viewed
         if changed:
             self.setFont(self.bold_font if is_being_viewed else self.normal_font)
-            self.setBackground(self.alternate_base if is_being_viewed else
-                    self.base)
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return 'TOC Item: %s %s#%s'%(self.title, self.abspath, self.fragment)