Beverly Taff

Mindful is a powerful novel about child abuse. It explores the divided mind and sexuality of Ian Evans, a transvestite child whose questions about his identity initiate the onset of telepathy.----Without any telepathic adult mentors to guide him through his experiences, young Ian believes he is mad because of the inexplicable, accusative and critical voices in his head. Ian ends up in a psychiatric unit run by paedophiles, where he is seriously abused because of his transvestism.----He escapes to end up as a child prostitute on the streets. Winter overwhelms Ian and he is delivered to another care unit, where Doctor Mary Evans makes a breakthrough by encouraging a friendship between Ian and Sandra, a similarly abused girl. The unit is then closed and the children are placed in the community, except for Ian, the violent transvestite, and Michael, an autistic mute.----In a psychiatric unit, Ian and Michael develop a symbiotic telepathic relationship, but it is misinterpreted as a sexual liaison because of Ians burgeoning transvestite femininity. Their separation causes Michael to commit suicide, while Ian, now living as Iona, is left alone to deal with her growing telepathic skill.----The psychiatric unit proves a perfect place to practice telepathy. Iona uses her telepathic skills to get released, but then runs afoul of the military, who want to use Iona for her Mindful talents.