Children's author raised boy, capturing hearts (4)
I believe the answer is:
dahl
'children's author' is the definition.
(Roald Dahl)
'raised boy capturing hearts' is the wordplay.
'raised' is a reversal indicator.
'boy' becomes 'lad' (lad is a kind of boy**).
'capturing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hearts' becomes 'h' (abbreviation used in card games e.g. bridge).
'lad' placed around 'h' is 'lhad'.
'lhad' reversed gives 'DAHL'.
(Other definitions for dahl that I've seen before include "'Roald ..., children's author (4)'" , "Model" , "British writer notably of children's books" , "Indian dish of legumes and spices" , "Roald - - (deviser of Willy-Wonka)" .)