Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775, and at a time when the only thing expected of a woman was to make a good match and marry a good husband, she opted for a career instead. It is believed that in 1787, Jane Austen began to pen her first works at the young age of only twelve years old. She wrote poems and short stories that she placed in notebooks. During her short lifetime, Jane Austen published only six novels, two of these posthumously by her siblings, but she remains one of the most loved and read authors of today.Want more? Click here/tag All six of her works have been made into major motion pictures.

The 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility has two vastly different sisters looking for love. You have the sensible sister Marianne, played by Emma Thompson, who is reserved and afraid to show her feelings. In contrast, there is the romantic sister Elinor, played by Kate Winslet, who is wild and ready to find love at all cost. Hugh Grant also stars in this film. The film Mansfield Park, said to be Austen’s autobiographical novel, stars Embeth Davidtz and Jonny Lee Miller. Other films based on her novels include Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. Her most popular novel Pride & Prejudice has been put to film many times. The most recent adaptation was made in 2005 and stars Keira Knightley, and Matthew Macfadyen.

Jane Austen died at the young age of 42, but she left us six timeless masterpieces that will no doubt continue to be loved, read , and put to film, for many years to come.