Purpose around start of tale penned by an English novelist (6)
I believe the answer is:
austen
'english novelist' is the definition.
'austen' can be an answer for 'novelist' (Jane Austen). I am not certain of the 'english' bit.
'purpose around start of tale penned by an' is the wordplay.
'purpose' becomes 'use' (synonyms).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'start of' indicates taking the first letters.
'penned by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are penned in).
The initial letter of 'tale' is 't'.
'use' enclosing 't' is 'uste'.
'uste' placed into 'an' is 'AUSTEN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for austen that I've seen before include "Jane --, English author" , "Emma author" , "15 [JANE] the writer" , "Author of Sense and Sensibility" , "Jane . . . . . . wrote 'Pride and Prejudice'" .)