Leading character in Austen novel with cuckoo
I believe the answer is:
nutcase
'cuckoo' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'leading character in austen novel' is the wordplay.
'leading' says to take the initial letters.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'novel' is an anagram indicator.
The first letter of 'character' is 'c'.
'austen' is an anagram of 'nutase'.
'c' inserted into 'nutase' is 'NUTCASE'.
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for nutcase that I've seen before include "Fruitcake?" , "bananas" , "one's cracked shell?" , "One may finish in the madhouse" , "Crackpot" .)