Thomas Amory (author)

Thomas Amory (1691? – 1788) was an English author best known for his eccentric and unconventional novel, The Life and Opinions of John Buncle, Esq. (1756 and 1766). Little is definitively known about Amory's life, leading to much speculation and mythologizing. He was reportedly born in Ireland, and descended from the family of Thomas Amory who went to Ireland with William III.

Amory lived a secluded life in London, known for his bookish habits and reclusive nature. The Life and Opinions of John Buncle, Esq. is a rambling, digressive work filled with religious and philosophical discussions, descriptions of scenery, and accounts of Buncle's successive marriages to women of intellectual and spiritual merit. The novel is notable for its early advocacy of Unitarianism, its detailed descriptions of the English countryside, and its unusual structure.

While largely ignored during his lifetime, Amory's John Buncle gained a cult following in the 19th and 20th centuries, championed by writers such as Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, and Robert Southey. Modern critics appreciate the novel for its proto-modernist qualities and its exploration of religious and philosophical ideas.

Beyond John Buncle, little else of Amory's writing has survived or is definitively attributed to him. He remains a figure of considerable mystery and fascination in literary history.