diff --git a/src/ssl.jl b/src/ssl.jl
index f8d845e..8f67e72 100644
--- a/src/ssl.jl
+++ b/src/ssl.jl
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ Base.show(io::IO, c::SSLConfig) = print(io, "MbedTLS.SSLConfig()")
 mutable struct SSLContext <: IO
     data::Ptr{Cvoid}
     datalock::ReentrantLock
-    nonblocking::Bool
     config::SSLConfig
     isopen::Bool
     bio
@@ -33,7 +32,6 @@ mutable struct SSLContext <: IO
         ctx = new()
         ctx.data = Libc.malloc(1000)  # 488
         ctx.datalock = ReentrantLock()
-        ctx.nonblocking = false
         ccall((:mbedtls_ssl_init, libmbedtls), Cvoid, (Ptr{Cvoid},), ctx.data)
         @compat finalizer(ctx->begin
             ccall((:mbedtls_ssl_free, libmbedtls), Cvoid, (Ptr{Cvoid},), ctx.data)
@@ -113,24 +111,23 @@ end
 
 function f_send(c_ctx, c_msg, sz)
     jl_ctx = unsafe_pointer_to_objref(c_ctx)
-    jl_msg = unsafe_wrap(Array, c_msg, sz)
-    return Cint(write(jl_ctx.bio, jl_msg))
+    return Cint(unsafe_write(jl_ctx, c_msg, sz))
 end
 
 function f_recv(c_ctx, c_msg, sz)
     jl_ctx = unsafe_pointer_to_objref(c_ctx)
-    jl_msg = unsafe_wrap(Array, c_msg, sz)
-    if jl_ctx.nonblocking && nb_available(jl_ctx.bio) == 0
-        n = 0
-    else
-        n = readbytes!(jl_ctx.bio, jl_msg, sz)
+    n = nb_available(jl_ctx)
+    if n == 0
+        return Cint(MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_WANT_READ)
     end
+    n = min(sz, n)
+    unsafe_read(jl_ctx, c_msg, n)
     return Cint(n)
 end
 
 function set_bio!(ssl_ctx::SSLContext, jl_ctx::T) where {T<:IO}
     ssl_ctx.bio = jl_ctx
-    set_bio!(ssl_ctx, pointer_from_objref(ssl_ctx), c_send[], c_recv[])
+    set_bio!(ssl_ctx, pointer_from_objref(ssl_ctx.bio), c_send[], c_recv[])
     nothing
 end
 
@@ -164,13 +161,25 @@ function set_dbg_level(level)
     nothing
 end
 
+Base.wait(ctx::SSLContext) = (eof(ctx.bio); nothing)
+                             # eof blocks if the receive buffer is empty
+
 function handshake(ctx::SSLContext)
-    @lockdata ctx begin
-        @err_check ccall((:mbedtls_ssl_handshake, libmbedtls), Cint,
-            (Ptr{Cvoid},), ctx.data)
-        ctx.isopen = true
+    while true
+        n = @lockdata ctx begin
+            ccall((:mbedtls_ssl_handshake, libmbedtls), Cint,
+                  (Ptr{Cvoid},), ctx.data)
+        end
+        if n == 0
+            break
+        end
+        if n != MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_WANT_READ
+            mbed_err(n)
+        end
+        wait(ctx)
     end
-    nothing
+    ctx.isopen = true
+    return
 end
 
 function set_alpn!(conf::SSLConfig, protos)
@@ -216,9 +225,11 @@ function Base.unsafe_read(ctx::SSLContext, buf::Ptr{UInt8}, nbytes::UInt; err=tr
         if n == MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_PEER_CLOSE_NOTIFY || n == 0
             ctx.isopen = false
             err ? throw(EOFError()) : return nread
-        end
-        if n != MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_WANT_READ
-            n < 0 && mbed_err(n)
+        elseif n == MBEDTLS_ERR_SSL_WANT_READ
+            wait(ctx)
+        elseif n < 0
+            mbed_err(n)
+        else
             nread += n
         end
     end
@@ -281,19 +292,21 @@ function get_ciphersuite(ctx::SSLContext)
 end
 
 function Base.nb_available(ctx::SSLContext)
+
     @lockdata ctx begin
-        # First try to read from the socket and decrypt incoming data if
-        # possible. https://esp32.com/viewtopic.php?t=1101#p4884
-        ctx.nonblocking = true
-        try
-            ccall((:mbedtls_ssl_read, libmbedtls),
-                  Cint, (Ptr{Cvoid}, Ptr{Cvoid}, Csize_t), ctx.data, C_NULL, 0)
-        finally
-            ctx.nonblocking = false
-        end
-        n = ccall((:mbedtls_ssl_get_bytes_avail, libmbedtls),
-                  Csize_t, (Ptr{Cvoid},), ctx.data)
-        return Int(n)
+
+        # First do a zero-byte read.
+        # This causes MbedTLS to call f_recv (which is always non-blocking)
+        # and decrypt any bytes that are already in the LibuvStream read buffer.
+        # https://esp32.com/viewtopic.php?t=1101#p4884
+        ccall((:mbedtls_ssl_read, libmbedtls), Cint,
+              (Ptr{Cvoid}, Ptr{Cvoid}, Csize_t),
+                 ctx.data,     C_NULL,       0)
+
+        # Now that the bufferd bytes have been processed, find out how many
+        # decrypted bytes are available.
+        return Int(ccall((:mbedtls_ssl_get_bytes_avail, libmbedtls),
+                         Csize_t, (Ptr{Cvoid},), ctx.data))
     end
 end