[1] Born in Glasgow to Mary (née Couper) and William McAdam in 1872, Clyde came to New Zealand as a child, and was educated at Otago Girls' High School.

In an essay entitled 'The Literary Woman', she urged women to continue "to make brilliant discoveries in the realm of the emotions".

Her novel A Pagan's Love was published there in 1905: the novel raised questions of women's dependence, with the heroine considering an extra-marital relationship with a man.

[4] At some point, Clyde returned to New Zealand, and in 1925 co-authored a travel book with the journalist Alan Mulgan.

[5] In 1935 she was imprisoned in Boggo Road Gaol after refusing to pay a fine for fortune-telling using tea-leaves.