Biography, story about France's leader (4)
I believe the answer is:
life
'biography' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'story about france's leader' is the wordplay.
'story' becomes 'lie' (I've seen this before).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'leader' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'frances' is 'f'.
'lie' going around 'f' is 'LIFE'.
(Other definitions for life that I've seen before include "'While there's .... there's hope'" , "Vitality, vigour" , "Birth to death" , "Baffin oiler (anag) - 7 film" , ""But an empty dream" (Longfellow) - "As tedious as a twice-told tale" (Shakespeare)" .)