diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index 36190ebf..d56614d7 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ impl Config {
     /// > when building the book with something like
     /// >
     /// > ```text
-    /// > $ export MDBOOK_BOOK="{'title': 'My Awesome Book', authors: ['Michael-F-Bryan']}"
+    /// > $ export MDBOOK_BOOK='{"title": "My Awesome Book", "authors": ["Michael-F-Bryan"]}'
     /// > $ mdbook build
     /// > ```
     ///
@@ -142,6 +142,17 @@ impl Config {
             let parsed_value = serde_json::from_str(&value)
                 .unwrap_or_else(|_| serde_json::Value::String(value.to_string()));
 
+            if key == "book" || key == "build" {
+                if let serde_json::Value::Object(ref map) = parsed_value {
+                    // To `set` each `key`, we wrap them as `prefix.key`
+                    for (k, v) in map {
+                        let full_key = format!("{}.{}", key, k);
+                        self.set(&full_key, v).expect("unreachable");
+                    }
+                    return;
+                }
+            }
+
             self.set(key, parsed_value).expect("unreachable");
         }
     }