The Clockwork Girl - Facts

 The book takes place in Paris in 1870. There are three points of view in the novel, and one is of Jeanne Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour.

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour ( 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and remained influential as court favourite until her death. Around 1750 Madame de Pompadour's role as friend of the King became her solitary role, as she ceased her sexual relationship with the King.

Louis XV is the king of the time. Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774) was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. 

The king's wife was Marie Leszczynska. Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska (23 June 1703 – 24 June 1768), also known as Marie Leczinska (French: [maʁi lɛɡzɛ̃ska]), was Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XV from their marriage on 4 September 1725 until her death in 1768. 

Alexandrine is Madame Pompadour's daughter, and she is sent to a convent. Alexandrine-Jeanne Le Normant d’Étiolles (10 August 1744 – 15 June 1754) was the daughter of Madame de Pompadour, the maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XV of France. She died in childhood. At the age of six, Alexandrine was placed at the Convent of the Assumption in the rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, where many daughters of the aristocracy were raised, in order to prepare her for a career at court. Before entering, she spent a week with her mother in Marly-le-Roi. Madame de Pompadour was worried to leave her child in Paris but considered convent schooling important for her later success. She continued to spend time with her as often as possible.

Richelieu seems to have been an enemy of Madame Pompadour in court. This is not the cardinal that appeared in The Three Musketters. Louis Antoine Sophie de Vignerot du Plessis, 4th Duke of Richelieu (4 February 1736 – 1791), was a French nobleman and general. 

Joseph, the valet working for Dr Reinhart, comes from Martinique originally. Martinique is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. A part of the French West Indies (Antilles), Martinique is an overseas department and region and a single territorial collectivity of the French Republic. 

When Reinhart is mad the king's clockmaker, he moves to live in the Louvre. The Louvre Palace, which houses the museum, was begun by King Philip II in the late 12th century to protect the city from the attack from the West, as the Kingdom of England still held Normandy at the time. The royal move away from Paris resulted in the Louvre being used as a residence for artists, under Royal patronage.For example, four generations of craftsmen-artists from the Boulle family were granted Royal patronage and resided in the Louvre.

Vaucanson was an automaton maker who made a defecating duck. Jacques de Vaucanson (February 24, 1709 – November 21, 1782)[1] was a French inventor and artist who built the first all-metal lathe. At just 18 years of age, Vaucanson was given his own workshop in Lyon, and a grant from a nobleman to construct a set of machines. Vaucanson decided to make some androids. The automata would serve dinner and clear the tables for the visiting politicians. The digesting duck is considered his masterpiece. 

Pompadour mentions Athenais de Montespas, who used the dark arts to win the Sun King's love. Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan (5 October 1640 – 27 May 1707), commonly known as Madame de Montespan  was a French noblewoman and the most celebrated royal mistress of King Louis XIV. 

Another royal mistress was Louise de Mailly. Louise Julie de Mailly-Nesle, comtesse de Mailly (1710–1751) was the eldest of the five famous de Nesle sisters, four of whom would become the mistress of King Louis XV of France. She was first the mistress of Louis XV from 1732 until 1742, and his official mistress from 1738 until 1742.

Voltaire sees the demonstration of Reinhart's doll. François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher, satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Roman Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.

There is a brief mention of the king's daughters, Victoire and Adelaide. 

Victoire of France (11 May 1733 – 7 June 1799) was a French princess, the daughter of King Louis XV and the popular Queen Marie Leszczyńska. Unlike the older children of Louis XV, Madame Victoire was not raised at the Palace of Versailles. Rather, she was, in June 1738, sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud with her younger sisters, because the cost of raising them in Versailles with all the status they were entitled to was deemed too expensive by Cardinal Fleury, Louis XV's chief minister. She remained there until 1748, when she was aged 15.

Marie Adélaïde de France[1] (23 March 1732 – 27 February 1800) was a French princess, the sixth child and fourth daughter of King Louis XV and Queen Marie Leszczyńska.

At the end of the book Veronique and Reinhart are hired by Frederick the Great in Prussia. Frederick II (24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786.

General Berryer was the chief of police who Pompadour ordered. Nicolas René Berryer, comte de La Ferrière (4 March 1703, in Paris – 15 August 1762, in Versailles) was a French magistrate and politician. A friend of Madame de Pompadour, it was she who had him named lieutenant général de police when she became "maîtresse en titre" to Louis XV. He held this role from May 1747 to October 1757.