The Lamp of Fate Author:Plato Margaret Pedler was a 20th century British novelist, who wrote popular works of romantic fiction. Her works include The Splendid Folly: 1917, The House of Dreams-Come-True: 1919, The Hermit of Far End: 1920, The Moon out of Reach 1921(?, ) The Lamp of Fate: 1921, The Vision of Desire: 1922(?), and The Barbarian Lover: 1923. The Lamp of Fate i... more »s the story of a young woman who tried to have it all, but in return gives nothing. This romance begins, "He never doubted that it would be a son. By some freak of chance the first-born of the Vallincourts of Coverdale had been, for eight successive generations, a boy. Indeed, by this time, the thing had become so much a habit that no doubts or apprehensions concerning the sex of the eldest child were ever entertained. It was accepted as a foregone conclusion, and in the eyes of the family there was a certain gratifying propriety about such regularity. It was like a hall-mark of heavenly approval."« less