Author taking month to pen a novel that's half-hearted (7)
I believe the answer is:
nabokov
'author' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'month to pen a novel that's half-hearted' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'month' could be 'ab' (Ab is an example) and 'ab' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'taking' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nabokov that I've seen before include "Author of ''Lolita'' in book van" , "Lolita writer" , "Vladimir --, author" , "Russian author" , "Wrote Lolita and Pale Fire" .)