French writer gets to live in old city in apartment (8)
I believe the answer is:
flaubert
'french writer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'live in old city in apartment' is the wordplay.
'live' becomes 'be' ('be' can be a synonym of 'live'**).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'old city' becomes 'ur' (ancient city state).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'apartment' becomes 'flat' ('flat' can be a synonym of 'apartment').
'be' put within 'ur' is 'uber'.
'uber' inserted into 'flat' is 'FLAUBERT'.
'gets to' is the link.
(Other definitions for flaubert that I've seen before include "French writer" , "French author" , "Madame Bovary author, d. 1880" .)