Miss McAdam is one of Eilis’s fellow residents at Mrs. Kehoe’s house. Originally from Belfast, Ireland, she works in an office and is older than most of the other boarders and is also rather old fashioned, frequently judging people like Diana and Patty and making comments about how they conduct their lives. To Eilis’s chagrin, she ends up accidentally aligning herself with Miss McAdam and Sheila Heffernan (another older resident) when she first arrives, unintentionally forcing herself to lead a boring existence instead of going out with Diana and Patty and having fun. When she eventually breaks away from Miss McAdam and Sheila, they both hold it against her.