diff --git a/mark2epub.py b/mark2epub.py
index 851ef00..410b76f 100755
--- a/mark2epub.py
+++ b/mark2epub.py
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ def get_chapter_XML(md_filename,css_filenames):
     ## Reading the JSON file containing the description of the eBook
     ## and compiling the list of relevant Markdown, CSS, and image files
 
-    with open(os.path.join(work_dir,"description.json"),"r") as f:
+    with open(os.path.join(work_dir,"description.json"),"r",encoding="utf-8") as f:
         json_data = json.load(f)
 
     all_md_filenames=[]