Who is Catherine Cookson?

Via 52 Books: The Guardian got hold of a list of the top 250 titles borrowed from UK libraries in the previous fiscal year and asked its readers to analyze the data. But what jumps out at me is how many authors I didn't recognize on the list: Apparently we're not only two countries separated by a common language, but also by our most popular literature. The British takeaway on this list, on the other hand, is how many American pop thrillers have sneaked into their libraries under cover of night.