This summer my vacation plans are limited, but I've been making up for this by traveling in time in a series of audio adventures.

First I cruised to an imaginary land much like feudal Japan in Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor (HighBridge,$36.95,unabridged, eight CDs, eight and one-half hours) Adventure, fantasy, romance, and myth combine in this gripping listen. The hero, young Takeo, returns from a mushroom hunt to discover everyone in his peaceful mountain village has been murdered. He is one of the "Hidden", a tribe that seeks prayer rather than swords in a time when most tribes are warring. Rescued by Lord Otori Shigeru, Takeo becomes the man's ward, and is adopted into Shigeru's tribe. Soon Takeo discovers he has ties to a third tribe, a mystical group with extraordinary skills. Kevin Gray 's reading of Takeo's search for home, love, and honor lets listeners savor the descriptions, relish the drama, and build anticipation for the sequel due out this fall.

Next I passed through 17th century France with Tracy Chevalier's The Virgin Blue (Highbridge, unabridged, $34.95, eight CDs, 10 hours). This is actually two parallel stories of present-day Ella Turner, and her ancestor, Isabelle du Moulin. American Ella Turner feels lost in a small French town where she can't practice midwifery, is rejected by locals, and haunted by dreams filled with a mysterious color of blue. Her dreams lead her to discover the story of her French ancestry, specifically Isabelle who has been abused by her husband, and shunned by those who curse her for her religious beliefs. Ella and Isabelle are connected in their isolation and their ambivalence about marriage. The unwinding of this link finally brings Ella peace. The voices of the two narrators, Janine Carter and Gigi Marceau Clark, merge perfectly. The flow of their readings and easy negotiation of English mixed with French, span the centuries which separate the heroines and give the story the elegant dramatization it deserves.

Next stop, pre-Revolutionary France with Charles O'Brien's Mute Witness (Recorded Books, $44.95, unabridged, 10 cassettes, 14.5 hours). Ann Cartier, a feisty young 18th century English actress, fights her way out of near rape, execution, and then travels to Paris to clear her beloved stepfather of suicide and murder charges. Through Ann's eyes we see a French society where the "nobility's only concerns were pleasure, prestige, and profit." The author is an expert on the Age of Enlightenment and history of crime. His knowledge is apparent in the details, authentic settings, and period intrigues. Jenny Sterlin has a lovely crisp English accent and her ease with French pronunciations add a convincing feel to the story.

Last, I took a non-fiction trek in Alison Weir's Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life (Recorded Books, $57.95, unabridged, 13 cassettes, 18.75 hours). Eleanor, one of the most beautiful women of Europe during the Middle Ages was the champion of courtly love, focus of romantic odes, wife of two kings, and mother of three more. With little existing written material, the author has done a remarkable job of pulling together a view of the times, Eleanor, her line and politics .She does so in a lively way, giving a sense of places and people. Eleanor gets less shadowy on the later tapes which proves the author's comment that she "was denied so long the exercise of power for which she had a natural appetite... and she ruled as capably as any man." Jill Tanner's reading is natural and lively and she effortlessly handles the challenge of hundreds of names of European royalty and turns history into story!