A nice fable — an exotic book (1,4,7)

I believe the answer is:

a fine balance

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'book' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'a nice fable an exotic' is the wordplay.
'exotic' indicates an anagram.
'nice'+'fable'+'an'='nicefablean'
'nicefablean' is an anagram of 'finebalance'.
'a'+'finebalance'='A FINE BALANCE'

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I've seen this clue in The Hindu.

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