A letter to peruse in awe (5)

I believe the answer is:

dread

'awe' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'a letter to peruse' is the wordplay.
'a letter' becomes 'd' (**).
'to peruse' becomes 'read' (I've seen this before).
'd'+'read'='DREAD'

'in' is the link.

(Other definitions for dread that I've seen before include "fright" , "Be very averse to" , "Terror" , "Deep fear" , "Affright" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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