Approval from British novelist (8)
I believe the answer is:
blessing
'approval' is the definition.
(I know that approval can be written as blessing)
'british novelist' is the wordplay.
'british' becomes 'b' (abbreviation e.g. in BBC).
'novelist' becomes 'lessing' (Doris Lessing).
'b'+'lessing'='BLESSING'
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for blessing that I've seen before include "Protecting prayer" , "Godsend" , "Glibness in benediction" , "Benefit, boon" , "Grace said before a meal" .)