Gillian Holmes

The Editor & Author

Previously Penguin Random House

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Gillian Holmes has been working in the publishing industry for nearly 30 years.

Starting as an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster, she worked on commercial fiction and non-fiction with authors such as Jo Brand, Jonathan Ross, and Jane Goodman. She also discovered Awaydays by Kevin Sampson, which became a bestseller and was later made into a film. Later, as an acquiring editor in charge of film and TV tie-ins, she oversaw franchises such as Star Wars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer —and even has a vampire named after her in one of the books. She has worked with bestselling authors like Alan Titchmarsh and Jackie Collins.

Gillian’s first love has, and always will be, commercial fiction. She worked as an acquiring editor at Penguin Random House for the Arrow Books imprint, where she acquired authors such as Katie Flynn who, before her death, was the bestselling saga writer in the country. Gillian has worked across a whole range of genres, from crime and thrillers to women’s fiction and historical, including bestselling authors Kathy Reichs, Dorothy Koomson, Cathy Woodman, Tony Parsons, Rosie Goodwin, Amanda Prowse, Jane Corry, Katie Price, and Amy Silver (aka Paula Hawkins). She enjoys helping new writers who are just starting out on their writing journey.

Editor by day, saga author by night!

Writing as Ginny Bell, Gillian’s World War II saga series set in Dover is published by Bonnier Zaffre. The Dover Café at War was published in 2020, with The Dover Café on the Front Line and The Dover Café Under Fire published in 2021 and 2022 respectively. The fourth book in the series, Return to the Dover Café, was published in 2024, and the fifth, The Dover Café on Trial, in 2025. The latest entry in the series is Secrets at the Dover Café (published 2026), with the next installment — Wedding Bells at the Dover Café — due in 2027.

Gillian has discovered that even an editor cannot spot the fatal flaws in their own writing. Let’s just say professional help is always needed!

‘I cannot thank Gillian enough! Her sensitive thoughts on my work (and careful unpicking of my convoluted sentences) have been invaluable. A pleasure to deal with and an absolute star!’ — Louise Mumford

‘Gillian, you kick ass.’ — Anne Howes

‘With any editor one asks oneself, “Did they make a difference?” and Gillian has done that in spades.’ — Martin Lee

Gillian’s Genres

• Action Adventure
• Contemporary & Women’s Fiction
• Crime & Suspense
• Crime Thrillers
• Mystery
• Historical Fiction
• Police Procedurals & Detective Fiction
• Romance
• Saga
• Westerns