Retold novel about origin of pearl bead (7)
I believe the answer is:
droplet
'bead' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'retold novel about origin of pearl' is the wordplay.
'novel' indicates an anagram.
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'origin of' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'pearl' is 'p'.
'retold' with letters rearranged gives 'drolet'.
'drolet' going around 'p' is 'DROPLET'.
(Other definitions for droplet that I've seen before include "Small tear (of liquid)" , "Small amount of water" , "Small amount of liquid" , "Small blob of liquid" , "Small tear of fluid" .)