Martin Amis, one of Britain’s most acclaimed novelists of his time, died at the age of 73.

According to the New York Times, he died of oesophageal cancer at his Florida home.

Amis is best known for his novels Money (1984) and London Fields (1989).

He wrote dozens of novels and nonfiction books and was widely regarded as one of the most important writers of his day.

He was born in Oxford in 1949, the son of novelist and poet Kingsley Amis. With his first novel, The Rachel Papers, the younger Amis followed in his father’s footsteps.

It earned the Somerset Maugham award the next year after being published in 1973 while he was working at the Times Literary Supplement.

He went on to publish a number of significant novels, including Money, London Fields, and Time’s Arrow, and was a contemporary of other well-known authors such as James Fenton, Salman Rushdie, and Ian McEwan.

His strong friendship with columnist Christopher Hitchens, who died in 2011 of oesophageal cancer, was well-documented.

They were part of a vibrant group that revitalized the British literary landscape and is credited with influencing a new generation of writers.

“He used to say that what he wanted to do was leave behind a shelf of books – to be able to say, “from here to here, it’s me,” Rushdie told the New Yorker. His voice has gone mute. His pals will be devastated. However, we have the shelves.”

Amis’s work was frequently distinguished by darkly comedic subject matter and sarcasm. Throughout his career, he also regularly returned to the subject of the Holocaust.

He was also regarded as a public intellectual and a frequently polarizing commentator on current events and politics.