Hardy heroine receives letters from all ten, without a single gift! (10)
I believe the answer is:
talentless
'single gift' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'hardy heroine receives letters from all ten without a' is the wordplay.
'hardy heroine' becomes 'tess' (Tess of the d'Urbervilles).
'receives' indicates putting letters inside.
'letters' becomes 'a' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'from' indicates an anagram (from the letters).
'without' suggests deleting specific letters.
'all'+'ten'='allten'
'allten' with 'a' taken away is 'llten'.
'llten' with letters rearranged gives 'lentl'.
'a'+'lentl'='alentl'
'tess' placed around 'alentl' is 'TALENTLESS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for talentless that I've seen before include "Unskilled" , "Lacking aptitude" .)