Ada May

Mrs. Ada May grew up in India with one sister and a little brother, who told them about the Borrowers. Years later, after Great-Aunt Sophy died, Mrs. May went looking for the Borrowers in Parkin’s Beck and left a bag of supplies for them. She smells food cooking, but never saw anyone. When she returned, however, the bag was gone and she found one of Arrietty’s books nearby.

She is somehow related to Kate’s parents and calls Kate her niece at one point. As an old woman nearly seventy years old, she lives in their house in London. She is elderly but authoritative, and teaches Kate how to crochet. She tells Kate the story of the Borrowers, and eventually takes her to Leighton Buzzard, where her aunt’s house, Firbank Hall, had been. She inherited the gamekeeper's cottage.