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On this day 240 years ago, Jane Austen was born in Hampshire, England. 

She went on to write some of the most popular books in the English language, including "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility," which have sold millions of copies and have been translated into dozens of languages.

Her works have spawned films, comics and hundreds of spin-offs. (If you wish "Pride and Prejudice" had more zombies, was set in space or involved pirates, enterprising authors have written 

1) Her books were published anonymously during her lifetime

"Sense and Sensibility" was Austen's first book to be published. ("Pride and Prejudice" was written first, but it was rejected by publishers when Austen's father submitted it.)

It was billed as "A New Novel by a Lady." Austen kept the anonymous name of "A Lady" for her future books as well. Some speculate that 

Austen died in 1817 at the age of 41, but scholars are still battling it out over the exact cause.

Theories on the cause of her death range from 

 that she caught from cattle to lymphoma to Addison's disease. (John F. Kennedy is perhaps the most famous person to have suffered from Addison's, a rare disorder involving the failure of the adrenal glands to produce steroid hormones.)

Austen died before finishing "Sanditon," her seventh novel.

She completed eleven chapters of the story, which follows the trials of a family attempting to modernize a small fishing village and turn it into a seaside resort town. Numerous authors have stepped up to provide their own endings, producing many different spins on Austen's unfinished work.

"Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin bone!" Twain 

It doesn't get more venomous than that. Twain famously detested Austen's works, saying that an ideal library would be one that didn't contain a single volume of hers.

He wasn't alone in his hatred. Virginia Woolf, Ralph Waldo Emerson, D.H. Lawrence and several other writers expressed their distaste for Austen. 

 collected their best lines of dismissal, including Charlotte Bronte's: "Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point."

5) Austen never married, but she was once engaged — for a day

Austen's love life has been the speculation of many a scholar and millions of readers. She famously never married, but she did accept a proposal in 1802, at the age of 27.

Harris Bigg-Wither, the younger brother of one of Austen's friends, proposed to Austen when she was visiting his family's home. Their families were close, and Bigg-Wither stood to inherit a large portion of land near Austen's childhood home. The marriage made sense financially, but not romantically.

Austen quickly realized her mistake and ended the engagement the next day. Almost 20 years later, she 

, "Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without Affection." 

6) Her sister may have stolen her one true love

Most speculation about Austen's love life centers on Tom Lefroy, with she whom exchanged flirtatious letters when she was 20. Their match was not to be, however, as Lefroy left for Ireland and married a woman with money. Hollywood grabbed hold of this story for the Anne Hathaway film, "Becoming Jane."

But there's another love story to be found in the letters of Austen and her family. When she was 23, she met Rev. Samuel Bicknall, a man she described as 

In "Jane Austen: An Unrequited Love," Andrew Norman theorizes that Austen's sister, Cassandra, was also in love with Bicknall. He suggests that Cassandra may have gone so far as to lie to Jane that Bicknall had died so neither could have him. Jane, Norman says, only discovered the truth may years later when she saw a notice of Bicknall's marriage to another woman.

7) The real Mr. Darcy may have been a man named Lord Boringdon

Dr. Susan Law spent five years tracing the historical trail of the 

In her book, "Through the Keyhole: Sex, Scandal and the Secret Life of the Country House," she 

 that the inspiration for Austen's famously brooding love interest interest was John Parker, the earl of Morley — also known as Lord Boringdon.

He was married to one of Austen's good friends, and Austen was a frequent guest at their home while writing "Pride and Prejudice."

Correction (Dec. 18, 2015): An earlier version of this story misidentified the Anne Hathaway film, "Becoming Jane."

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Tracy Mumford

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Dec. 16 marks the 240th birthday of the famous author, who left behind six finished novels and many mysteries.

7 things you didn't know about Jane Austen

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