Novelist recalling old church (3)
I believe the answer is:
eco
'novelist' is the definition.
(Umberto Eco)
'recalling old church' is the wordplay.
'recalling' is a reversal indicator.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'o'+'ce'='oce'
'oce' written backwards gives 'ECO'.
(Other definitions for eco that I've seen before include "Concerned with the environment" , "Umberto --, Italian writer" , "Green prefix" , "Environmental group" , "Umberto - - , novelist" .)