Author Saul dumping wife; acquiring old road house of ill-repute (8)
I believe the answer is:
bordello
'house of ill-repute' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'author saul dumping wife acquiring' is the wordplay.
'author' becomes 'ord' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'saul' becomes 'bellow' (novelist Saul Bellow).
'dumping' is a deletion indicator.
'wife' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'acquiring' indicates putting letters inside.
'bellow' with 'w' removed is 'bello'.
'ord' inserted inside 'bello' is 'BORDELLO'.
'old road' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bordello that I've seen before include "Brothel" , "House of ill repute" , "House of ill-repute" , "Disorderly house" , "12 across (anag)" .)