diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/http_request.py b/src/calibre/srv/http_request.py
index 71d6cb9c36..57f840156c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/http_request.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/http_request.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def parse_request_uri(uri):
         return None, uri, None
 
 
-def parse_uri(uri, parse_query=True):
+def parse_uri(uri, parse_query=True, unquote_func=unquote):
     scheme, authority, path = parse_request_uri(uri)
     if path is None:
         raise HTTPSimpleResponse(http_client.BAD_REQUEST, "No path component")
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def parse_uri(uri, parse_query=True):
         query = None
 
     try:
-        path = '%2F'.join(unquote(x).decode('utf-8') for x in quoted_slash.split(path))
+        path = '%2F'.join(unquote_func(x).decode('utf-8') for x in quoted_slash.split(path))
     except ValueError as e:
         raise HTTPSimpleResponse(http_client.BAD_REQUEST, as_unicode(e))
     path = tuple(filter(None, (x.replace('%2F', '/') for x in path.split('/'))))
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ class HTTPRequest(Connection):
         self.max_header_line_size = int(1024 * self.opts.max_header_line_size)
         self.max_request_body_size = int(1024 * 1024 * self.opts.max_request_body_size)
         self.forwarded_for = None
+        self.request_original_uri = None
 
     def read(self, buf, endpos):
         size = endpos - buf.tell()
@@ -279,6 +280,7 @@ class HTTPRequest(Connection):
         except KeyError:
             return self.simple_response(http_client.HTTP_VERSION_NOT_SUPPORTED)
         self.response_protocol = protocol_map[min((1, 1), rp)]
+        self.request_original_uri = uri
         try:
             self.scheme, self.path, self.query = parse_uri(uri)
         except HTTPSimpleResponse as e:
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/http_response.py b/src/calibre/srv/http_response.py
index 0bd1991ad7..0755ea3bc8 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/http_response.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/http_response.py
@@ -219,15 +219,18 @@ class RequestData(object):  # {{{
     username = None
 
     def __init__(self, method, path, query, inheaders, request_body_file, outheaders, response_protocol,
-                 static_cache, opts, remote_addr, remote_port, is_local_connection, translator_cache, tdir, forwarded_for):
+                 static_cache, opts, remote_addr, remote_port, is_local_connection, translator_cache,
+                 tdir, forwarded_for, request_original_uri=None):
 
         (self.method, self.path, self.query, self.inheaders, self.request_body_file, self.outheaders,
          self.response_protocol, self.static_cache, self.translator_cache) = (
             method, path, query, inheaders, request_body_file, outheaders,
             response_protocol, static_cache, translator_cache
         )
+
         self.remote_addr, self.remote_port, self.is_local_connection = remote_addr, remote_port, is_local_connection
         self.forwarded_for = forwarded_for
+        self.request_original_uri = request_original_uri
         self.opts = opts
         self.status_code = http_client.OK
         self.outcookie = Cookie()
@@ -444,7 +447,7 @@ class HTTPConnection(HTTPRequest):
             self.method, self.path, self.query, inheaders, request_body_file,
             outheaders, self.response_protocol, self.static_cache, self.opts,
             self.remote_addr, self.remote_port, self.is_local_connection,
-            self.translator_cache, self.tdir, self.forwarded_for
+            self.translator_cache, self.tdir, self.forwarded_for, self.request_original_uri
         )
         self.queue_job(self.run_request_handler, data)
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/opds.py b/src/calibre/srv/opds.py
index e3bcb240a3..59f3e75612 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/opds.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/opds.py
@@ -26,9 +26,10 @@ from calibre import force_unicode
 
 from calibre.srv.errors import HTTPNotFound, HTTPInternalServerError
 from calibre.srv.routes import endpoint
+from calibre.srv.http_request import parse_uri
 from calibre.srv.utils import get_library_data, http_date, Offsets
 from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, filter, as_bytes
-from polyglot.urllib import urlencode
+from polyglot.urllib import urlencode, unquote_plus
 from polyglot.binary import as_hex_unicode, from_hex_unicode
 
 
@@ -624,6 +625,11 @@ def opds_search(ctx, rd, query):
         raise HTTPNotFound('Not found')
 
     rc = RequestContext(ctx, rd)
+    if query:
+        path = parse_uri(rd.request_original_uri, parse_query=False, unquote_func=unquote_plus)[1]
+        query = path[-1]
+        if isinstance(query, bytes):
+            query = query.decode('utf-8')
     try:
         ids = rc.search(query)
     except Exception:
diff --git a/src/polyglot/urllib.py b/src/polyglot/urllib.py
index 8f9e008f8c..1d30c99eca 100644
--- a/src/polyglot/urllib.py
+++ b/src/polyglot/urllib.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ if is_py3:
         if binary:
             ans = ans.encode(encoding, errors)
         return ans
+
 else:
     from urllib import (getproxies, quote, unquote as uq, quote_plus, url2pathname,  # noqa
             urlencode)  # noqa
@@ -43,3 +44,9 @@ else:
         if not binary:
             ans = ans.decode(encoding, errors)
         return ans
+
+
+def unquote_plus(x, encoding='utf-8', errors='replace'):
+    q, repl = (b'+', b' ') if isinstance(x, bytes) else ('+', ' ')
+    x = x.replace(q, repl)
+    return unquote(x, encoding=encoding, errors=errors)