diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/main.cpp b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/main.cpp
index 4ec1e2fe44..869204dc1d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/main.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/main.cpp
@@ -24,14 +24,14 @@ extern "C" {
     pdfreflow_reflow(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
         char *pdfdata;
         Py_ssize_t size;
-        int first_page, last_page;
+        int first_page, last_page, num = 0;
 
         if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s#ii", &pdfdata, &size, &first_page, &last_page))
             return NULL;
 
         try {
             Reflow reflow(pdfdata, static_cast<std::ifstream::pos_type>(size));
-            reflow.render(first_page, last_page);
+            num = reflow.render(first_page, last_page);
         } catch (std::exception &e) {
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, e.what()); return NULL;
         } catch (...) {
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ extern "C" {
                     "Unknown exception raised while rendering PDF"); return NULL;
         }
 
-        Py_RETURN_NONE;
+        return Py_BuildValue("i", num);
     }
 
     static PyObject *
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ extern "C" {
     PyMethodDef pdfreflow_methods[] = {
         {"reflow", pdfreflow_reflow, METH_VARARGS,
         "reflow(pdf_data, first_page, last_page)\n\n"
-                "Reflow the specified PDF."
+                "Reflow the specified PDF. Returns the number of pages in the PDF. If last_page is -1 renders to end of document."
         },
         {"get_metadata", pdfreflow_get_metadata, METH_VARARGS,
         "get_metadata(pdf_data, cover)\n\n"
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/reflow.cpp b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/reflow.cpp
index 921f8f67cd..c9d42dd671 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/reflow.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/reflow.cpp
@@ -712,7 +712,7 @@ Reflow::Reflow(char *pdfdata, size_t sz) :
 
 }
 
-void
+int
 Reflow::render(int first_page, int last_page) {
 
     if (!this->doc->okToCopy()) 
@@ -739,6 +739,8 @@ Reflow::render(int first_page, int last_page) {
         this->dump_outline();
 
     delete xml_out;
+
+    return doc_pages;
 }
 
 void Reflow::dump_outline() {
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/reflow.h b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/reflow.h
index a4281d16ed..768799f004 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/reflow.h
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/reflow.h
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ class Reflow {
         ~Reflow();
         
         /* Convert the PDF to XML. All files are output to the current directory */
-        void render(int first_page, int last_page);
+        int render(int first_page, int last_page);
 
         /* Get the PDF Info Dictionary */
         map<string, string> get_info();