Elizabeth Abu'l-Fazl Devaughn

## Biography

### Early life

Elizabeth Ibnat-Abu'l-Fazl Lange was born on December 17th, 1965 in Qalansuwa, Israel, to parents Abu'l-Fazl Bin-Azar, a local arts dealer, and Eva Lange, a physician. Her mother's family had fled from Germany to Israel after living in hiding with her family during Hitler's reign. While both of her parents were Jewish, they maintained separate heritage; and Lange was, for the most part, German; and Fazl was half Israeli and half Arabic.

### College years, meeting Lucien Maria-Devaughn

Lange graduated medical school in 1986 *magna cum laude.* During her usual shift as a nurse at a Yorkshire hospital, she met Lucien Maria-Devaughn, who came for a cane prescription.

## Personality

Beth was known to be a humorous, polite individual with a typically witty retort. Lucien states that she was reserved in her decision-making, which set off their friendship (and relationship); while Lucien was 'already trying to figure out her ring size', Elizabeth toned him down and 'forced him to have needed patience.' She still was unsure about the man due to his strange lifestyle, and initially, his profession. She was kind-hearted despite openly finding some people 'absolutely fizzled out of their mind.' According to Lucien, Elizabeth was, compared to him, flirtatious, and enjoyed throwing people off by it. She had a certain political streak as well, which was of 'strong interest'--- she was shockingly open in her thoughts and demeanor, and didn't hide anything behind small-talk. "One of the first subjects we spoke about after writing was about current events in Berlin, and I thought, God, I would do anything to listen to her mock West Berlin politics," says Lucien, in 'Swing It', further describing her as 'wonderfully political'.

## Death

On June 12th of 1993, Elizabeth Ophelia Lange, aged 30, died in hospice of late stage ovarian cancer. Her fiance, Lucien Maria-Devaughn, was at her bedside, and had been there for 3 days. She passed away in her sleep on multiple painkillers, and experienced a painless, though slow death. She only did a few rounds of chemotherapy; she knew it was going to be fatal from the time she got her diagnosis, when it was already nearing the terminal stage. Lucien begged her to do it, and she began to fight the cancer off; however, the cancer worsened. Lucien stayed during her treatment as well.

### Aftermath

After Elizabeth's death, Lucien stayed in his house for over a month before Donna came to his doorstep. She came to check on him out of concern, and found him in an extremely sickly state; he had lost significant weight and hadn't talked to anyone since seeing hospital nurses.

## Development

Without any prior basis to even who she was or what she looked like, the Old Hollywood actresses Lizabeth Scott, Ava Gardner, and Lauren Bacall inspired me to create Beth Lange. She didn't exist before I saw images of these influential women of the 40s-50s; Hedy Lamarr, Scott, and Gardner. When I look at the pairing of Lucien and Beth, I see them as a little bit of a time-capsule in its appearance; the fashion was curated purely by Noir film actresses and the men's fashion trends of the 1940s. I wanted to create a vintage presence in aesthetic, but make their overall relationship modern (as in *not* 50s housewife and violent gender roles).

After a death of a family member due to cancer in 2023, cancer began to be a theme in the book.

## Trivia

* Elizabeth shares a first name with American singer Lana Del Rey, birth name Elizabeth Grant. Beth correlates with the singers' music.

* Beth has multiple similarities to film actress Lauren Bacall.

* Ophelia, in William Shakespeare's drama, is a character who died tragically by drowning.