The retrieval team are a married couple , Iz and John . Iz is actually an African American , although cosmetic surgery has led to an uncomfortable masquerade as a " Caucasian " woman in the chosen alternate history . It turns out to be that of '' Terraplane '' , the previous novel in the DryCo quartet , where Abraham Lincoln was prematurely assassinated in early 1861 , the American Civil War never took place , and slavery was only abolished by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 . Therefore , this world is backward when it comes to the civil rights movement and racist segregation is still widespread there
prematurely assassinated
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Elvissey