"The Intuitionist" is set in a slightly-alternate America; the time isn't explicit, but it feels roughly 1950s-ish: post-war, but pre-Civil Rights Movement. The most notable alterity here is the importance and public recognition of elevators and elevator inspectors. Our protagonist, Lila Mae Watson, is the first woman and only second black person (the novel primarily uses "colored") to become an elevator inspector; furthermore, she is an Intuitionist, one of a small but increasingly influential faction of inspectors who "intuit" the status of elevators just by riding in them, rather than the traditionally-inspecting Empiricists. After a high-profile accident of an elevator Lila recently declared safe, she is drawn into a mystery circling around guild politics and the enigmatic founder of the Intutionists, who may have left behind plans for a radically more perfect elevator.
Possible spoilers below!
