St. Eustatia, or Sint Eustatius in Dutch, is a Caribbean island originally colonized by the French and English. Trading hands for decades in the 1600s, the island eventually stabilized as a main stop on the Atlantic Slave Trade's Triangular network, trafficking captured slaves and other cargo to the New World. It's in this context that Olaudah Equiano writes about the island, as he believes he is readily approaching his freedom, which gets put off for just one more minute over and over again. He is a ship hand on a boat sailing into the port of the St.

Versailles is a massive royal palace complex originally built outside Paris by Louis XIV of France, the Sun King. As the model for a European monarch's palace grounds, it was repeatedly used for diplomatic meetings to end wars, resulting in dozens of "Treaties of Versailles." The most important one, however, was brokered at the end of the Great War, also known as World War I. The peace deal crafted at this conference was criticized as overly punishing to Germany, a defeated power, which partially resulted in another war just two decades later.

20 Upper Baker Street is the home address of the Lorimer sisters, the protagonists of Romance of a Shop. Part of London's City of Westminster, Upper Baker Street was also the home of famous literary detective Sherlock Holmes. While it originated as an upper class residential neighborhood, commercial businesses moved in over time, which actually was indicated in Levy's work with the mention of a local chemist and photographer's studio (which would become extremely important to the plot).

Paternoster Row is the geographic home of England's publishing scene, with book stores and publishers lining the street. In Medieval England, monks would recite the Lord's Prayer while processing down the road, the Latin "Pater Noster" being exclaimed as the clergy marched.

The South Kensington Museum (renamed Victoria and Albert Museum May 17, 1899) was established by using the proceeds Prince Albert received from hosting the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851. The museum was officially established in 1857 and houses over two million artifacts. Like the Crystal Palace it also displayed priceless art pieces, but also developed a large exhibit dedicated purely to scientific discoveries and innovations. It was also the chosen venue to host the Colonial and Indian Exhibition on May 4, 1886.

Mrs. Croft mentioned in her conversation with Mrs. Musgrove that she had travelled to Lisbon with Admiral Croft. Lisbon had been a port of war operations and under French control from 1806 to 1814, and was subject to invasions and occupation. It was a dangerous place to be, showing Mrs. Croft contradicting other female characters.