De la Mare’s tragic heroine from Hugo’s book (9)
I believe the answer is:
esmeralda
'heroine from hugo's book' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'de la mare's tragic' is the wordplay.
'tragic' is an anagram indicator.
'de'+'la'+'mares'='delamares'
'delamares' with letters rearranged gives 'ESMERALDA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for esmeralda that I've seen before include "Victor Hugo character" , "Heroine of The Hunchback of Notre Dame" , "Victor's character" , "woman, kept in a tower" , "Hugo's heroine" .)