"The Evacuation still proceeds..." GR Part 1 Section 1

[jbor at bigpond.com]

... pp. 3-7, coupla weeks

Pirate's dream of the Evacuation which opens the novel is not just any 
normal dream, and it's not just about the evacuations from London which 
were happening in 1944, though that provides the pretext. Pirate's 
"talent" for getting into the thoughts and fantasies of others means 
that he has "seen" what's going on in the Nazi death camps too, and has 
empathised with the prisoners on the transports. While he has been able 
to manage his telepathic skill over the years, it is in dream, where 
his conscious mind and psychological defence mechanisms are in 
abeyance, that the true horror of the Nazi 'Final Solution' is dredged 
up from within his subconscious, manifesting in imagery and dialogue. 
Pirate's surreal dreamscape which opens the novel is triggered by the 
evacuations which were going on in London at the time, because these 
are a reminder to him, or to his conscience, of the "evacuations" which 
have been going on in Germany since the late 1930s.

best