American lady acquiring book, edited novel by Eliot (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
adam bede
'novel by eliot' is the definition.
(I know that Adam Bede is a novel)
'american lady acquiring book edited' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'lady' becomes 'dame' (synonyms).
'acquiring' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'book' becomes 'b' (abbreviation for book).
'edited' becomes 'ed' (publishing abbreviation).
'b'+'ed'='bed'
'dame' placed around 'bed' is 'dambede'.
'a'+'dambede'='ADAM BEDE'
(Other definitions for adam bede that I've seen before include "Carpenter" , "Book by George Eliot" , "Novel by George Eliot" .)