Novelist Charles (5)
I believe the answer is:
reade
'novelist charles' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for reade that I've seen before include "Victorian writer" , "Charles --, English novelist" , "Victorian author" , "Charles -, The Cloister and the Hearth author" , "Charles --, wrote The Cloister and the Hearth" .)