Books app two-page view always starts with an even page

On MacOS Tahoe 26, in the Books app, I can't change whether the first page in the two-page view is even or odd. It always defaults to showing the even page first, ex. showing page 78 on the left and 79 on the right. But I'm reading a formatted epub that is meant to be read with each two-page spread starting with the odd page. So I want to be reading [79-80], [81-82], [83-84], etc. but Books only lets me read [78-79], [80-81], [82-83], etc. My issue is very similar to this issue from the Preview app for reading a PDF: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/99769/control-odd-even-page-pairing-in-preview-in-two-page-mode

where it could be solved by inserting a blank page in the PDF. But for .epub files in the Books app, I can't do that.

Is there any solution to this? And if not, can I request that the even/odd two page view toggle be added as a new feature in the next release of Books?