Big books from the east devoured by cats (5)
I believe the answer is:
tomes
'big books' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'east devoured by cats' is the wordplay.
'east' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'devoured by' is an insertion indicator.
'cats' becomes 'toms' (tom is a kind of cat).
'e' going within 'toms' is 'TOMES'.
'from the' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tomes that I've seen before include "Large scholarly books" , "Big books" , "works" , "Weighty books" .)