… and to get chitchat about his novelist from tutor (9)
I believe the answer is:
governess
'and to get chitchat about his novelist from tutor' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'get chitchat about his novelist from tutor' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'get' could be 'go' (synonyms) and 'go' is present in the answer.
'novelist' could be 'verne' (I have seen 'French novelist ' mean 'verne' so perhaps 'novelist' could also mean 'verne') and 'verne' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for governess that I've seen before include "Mary Poppins, perhaps" , "Duenna" , "Becky Sharp, say" , "Supernanny?" , "Teacher" .)