English novel meeting resistance in Surrey town (5)
I believe the answer is:
esher
'surrey town' is the definition.
(town in Surrey)
'english novel meeting resistance' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'novel' becomes 'she' (I've seen this before).
'meeting' says to put letters next to each other.
'resistance' becomes 'r' (electronics abbreviation).
'e'+'she'+'r'='ESHER'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for esher that I've seen before include "Surrey town and racecourse" , "somewhere in Surrey" , "Sandown Park's location" , "Surrey town, home of Sandown Park" , "Town SW of London" .)