The Madeleine Cemetery was one of four cemeteries in Paris used to get rid of carcasses during the French Revolution. It was notable for housing the bulk of the dead from the September Massacres of 1792 and the decapitated corpse of Charlotte Corday, the Girondin assassin of Jean-Paul Marat. Guillotine victims of the era were housed in the trenches of the Madeleine Cemetery and Corday was no exception.

The Albemarle Club is located in Albemarle Street, London, England. As a private club for both male and female members in the nineteenth century, it was somewhat unique.

• Galashiels is the first station Gemma arrives at on her journey north to Blackbird Hall. She first notices the sullen, grey houses, and meditates on her past life so far, even as she moves forward. Livesey writes, "Beyond Galashiels the countryside grew desolate, populated only by scruffy sheep and dark twisted trees. I thought of Ross's story of running away, and sleeping in a sheepfold" (Livesey 147).