YA Dystopia, read 2006 or earlier. Oppressive society that exploited telepaths/empaths called harlequin or "harnies". Female? MC and harlequin escape, bittersweet end after they cross the border and harlequin joins up with a hivemind of others.

[[deleted user]]

Possibly revealed to be an unnamed Arab/Middle Eastern-like society that they escape from. "Harny" was a slur for harlequin.

I've checked many lists of older dystopian YA and nothing has rung a bell.

[Rainbowheart]

Are these characters teenagers?

[[deleted user]]

I don't recall the ages of the characters. They were old enough to have some independence. By the epilogue, the MC was able to work a part-time job, live in an apartment (initially with the harlequin character), and attend a support group. But, I read this book as a teen and wouldn't have been interested if they'd been too far into adulthood. I'd ballpark them as late teens, but not much more than 20.

[Becca]

The Fourth Realm series by John Twelve Hawks has a group called Harlequins but I'm not sure if the other details match. The first book is called The Traveler and looks like it was published in 2005.

[[deleted user]]

Nope, not The Fourth Realm. Thanks for trying.

[Rainbowheart]

Sounds more like adult fiction to me, but you might want to check the YA Dystopia Novels list.

[[deleted user]]

Did check the list, and a bunch of others about telepathy, etc, whatever came to mind. I guess it could have been adult fiction that worked its way into the school library. Really couldn't say.

[Rainbowheart]

It could have been crossover fiction too. There was a *lot* of that published in the '90s and before.

Did it seem like a new-ish book when you read it, or an older one?

[[deleted user]]

I would say newish, as that sort of racial sensitivity was starting to come into mainstream fiction, if I recall. It felt timely, I've got a distinct recollection of it feeling very present-day. I'm beginning to think it must have been some no-name author's single work that everyone forgot about. I churned through so much speculative fiction back then. I probably found a diamond in the rough.