US novelist triumphed in capturing another (7)

I believe the answer is:

wharton

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'capturing another' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'us novelist triumphed in' is the wordplay.
'us novelist' becomes 'hart' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'triumphed' becomes 'won' (I've seen this before).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hart' going inside 'won' is 'WHARTON'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for wharton that I've seen before include "American novelist" , "WRITER" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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