Child succeeds before becoming recluse (7)
I believe the answer is:
eremite
'recluse' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'child succeeds before' is the wordplay.
'child' becomes 'mite' (I've seen this in other clues).
'succeeds' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'before' becomes 'ere' (usually literary).
'mite' after 'ere' is 'EREMITE'.
'becoming' is the link.
(Other definitions for eremite that I've seen before include "Religious person" , "Solitary" , "Religious type" , "desert father" , "Christian living in severe circumstances" .)