London (CNN) -- It's a simple love story: Girl meets guy, it's hate at first sight, and then they fall in love. "Pride and Prejudice," the original rom-com, turns 200 today, with fans around the world celebrating the story that launched a whole industry. The tale of feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet and her relationship with the haughty, brooding Darcy is the stuff of spinoffs aplenty: Even if you've never read the original, chances are you've seen one of its many remakes, from Bridget Jones to Bollywood, zombie thrillers to murder mysteries. But Jane Austen's best-known and most-loved novel, first published on January 28, 1813, and viewed by the author as her "own darling child" wasn't an immediate hit.
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Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" was published on 28 January, 1813
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The best-known and most-loved of her novels, it has spawned a whole industry
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Story has inspired a Bollywood remake, a murder mystery, and even a zombie horror
Jane Austen
Jane Austen
"@placeholder is one of the very few real crossover writers, who are popular with the public and also feted by critics and academia -- it is very rare."
Jane Austen
Jane Austen
@placeholder was the first truly modern novelist, and 'Pride and Prejudice' is full of irony, craft, careful plotting -- you read it for the story, but you get all these other layers of richness too."
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But she says the secret of the story's success is down to its protagonists, Elizabeth and @placeholder, "two terribly attractive characters who spark off each other in a very dynamic and sexy way," and to its heroine, in particular.