Novel read, set between years in recent past (9)
I believe the answer is:
yesterday
'recent past' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'novel read set between years' is the wordplay.
'novel' indicates anagramming the letters (letters in a new or novel order).
'between' indicates putting letters inside.
'years' becomes 'yy' (an abbreviation for year written twice).
'read'+'set'='readset'
'readset' anagrammed gives 'esterda'.
'esterda' going inside 'yy' is 'YESTERDAY'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for yesterday that I've seen before include "Classic song" , "Song (of the recent past?)" , "back then" , "It was finished at midnight" , "'' ......... all my troubles seemed so far away'' (song)" .)