Skara Brae (p.196)

Skara Brae is a Neolithic settlement located on the largest island of the Orkney archipelago. It consists of the remains of eight clustered houses occupied from 3180 BC to about 2500 BC. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids. It has been called the “Scottish Pompeii” because of its excellent preservation. A severe storm in 1850 hit Scotland and stripped away the soil to uncover the village. (en.m.wikipedia.org).

Scapa Flow (p. 170)

This is a body of water in the Orkney Islands that has played an important role in travel, trade, and conflict throughout time. The Vikings anchored their longships there more than 1000 years ago. It served an important British naval base in both world wars. In World War I, the Germans scuttled their fleet there and as a result, its wrecks and marine habitats have formed an acclaimed diving location. The world’s first ship-to-ship transfer of liquefied natural gas took place at Scapa Flow in 2007. (en.m.wikipedia.org).

Blackbird Hall is located on Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland. Orkney was a very special place not only in The Flight of Gemma Hardy, being the home of Mr. Sinclair, but in the lore of Scotland as a nation. Orkney is supposedly the home of such literary giants as Sir Gareth, Sir Gaheris, Sir Gawaine, and Sir Agravain in the Arthurian Legends. Orkney is specifically important in the 1960s-1980s, because of the potitential for uranuim mines, which were never formed, helping to keep the islands as natural and Gothic as always. 

The Sargasso Sea is located in its entirety within the Atlantic Ocean with no surrounding borders. It is placed here on the map because though not in the West Indies, the Sargasso sea is in the area between North America, Azores, and West Indies. The Sargasso Sea is the only sea that does not border any land and is surrounded by only four sea currents. According to Rachel L. Carson, the sea is "roughly as large as the United States" (Carson 117). Carson describes the sea as "a place forgotten by the winds, undisturbed by the strong flow of waters...

In the latter half of part one of Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette begins to attend the Mount Calvary Convent school in Spanish Town, Jamaica a year after her mother passes (we find this out because she reflects on the funeral). While attending this school, a lot happens in Antoinette's life including age and values. Within her first day, she is bullied by children at the school who claim that she is crazy, much like her mother Annette and threaten to hurt her. On the same day, Antoinette meets her father's illegitimate son Sandi who protects her against the bullies.

This location is introduced early in the novel, due to the background of Gemma's parents: Reykjavik is where her parents met. Despite being forced to move after her parents die, Gemma has fond memories of the short time she lived in Iceland. Livesey writes, "They had met in 1943 when my mother, Agnes, a WRNS, was posted to Iceland, and my father, a man who grown up in the shadow of glaciers and geysers, was working on the new docks in Reykjavik" (Livesey 15). Gemma often references her love for the water.