Crossword Genius

Comrade of Robespierre's an English novelist (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

amis

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'english novelist' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'comrade of robespierre's an' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'an' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one) and 'i' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ams' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for amis that I've seen before include "Martin --, Eng. author" , "Kingsley -, English author (Lucky Jim)" , "Author of Lucky Jim, d.1995" , "Author Kingsley or Martin" , "English writer" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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