Be drawn to fireplace, embracing Sackville-West (9)
I believe the answer is:
gravitate
'be' is the definition.
(I know that gravitate is a more specific form of be)
'fireplace embracing sackville-west' is the wordplay.
'fireplace' becomes 'grate' (grate can mean a fireplace).
'embracing' indicates putting letters inside.
'sackville-west' becomes 'Vita' (author Vita Sackville-West is an example).
'grate' going around 'vita' is 'GRAVITATE'.
'drawn to' 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 gravitate that I've seen before include "Be drawn (towards)" , "Tend towards" , "sink" , "Be impelled (towards) as if by force" , "Be attracted to join mass" .)