Katy-area author Sanya Morang has released her debut novel, “In Conversation with Eternity,” a Christian pilgrimage story that carries its protagonist from Rome and Venice through Vienna, Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Montenegro and Istanbul.

Drawing on European History, sacred places, Scripture and the author's own experience of travel, the novel explores an unusual question: what if the seemingly accidental moments of our lives are part of a larger conversation with God?

The novel follows Father Simon, an American priest whose journey carries him from Rome through Venice, Vienna, Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Montenegro, and ultimately Istanbul. But geography is never merely backdrop. What begins as travel across countries and centuries becomes something far more interior. The people, sacred places, art, history, beauty, and unexpected encounters along the way gradually sharpen his discernment and draw him toward a renewed awareness of God.

“The novel asks us to consider whether the ordinary moments of our lives might belong to a larger story than we can see while we are living them—and whether recognizing that changes the way we live, choose, and respond to others,” the author said. “It is ultimately a book about attention and discernment: how we learn to see, what we choose to value, and how God may use people, beauty, suffering, places, and even interruptions to form us.”

”I suppose I am a pilgrim at heart,” Morang said. “I gather inspiration from the places and people I encounter along the way, and writing gives me a way to explore what those encounters reveal about human nature, faith, time, and the meaning we give to our lives.”

“For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by time and our perception of it,” she said. “That fascination inevitably leads to larger questions: What gives life meaning? Who am I becoming? Are the encounters and interruptions of our lives merely accidental, or can they form a pattern that becomes visible only in retrospect? ‘In Conversation with Eternity’ grew from those questions and from my Christian faith.”

Morang and her family moved to the greater Katy area four years ago, initially because they wanted to attend Lakewood Church, Morang said. “Having grown up in Europe and lived in several different places, I have learned that home is not always where you begin,” she said. “Texas has very much become home for us.” The family lives in Pecan Hill, in the Brookshire/Fulshear area just west of Katy. The couple has two children -- Steven, 30, and Estelle, who currently attends a private Christian school in the Katy.

Morang’s professional background includes marketing, psychology, and education, and Morang is also an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, where she teaches “The Seduction of Fraud” course, based on a framework she developed with her husband Steve. In addition to writing,

Morang continue to speak on human behavior and decision-making through “The Seduction of Fraud” framework.

Morang said that her work has long centered on human behavior, discernment, and the choices that gradually shape who we become. “Those same concerns appear in the novel, only translated from the language of psychology and decision-making into the language of story and faith.”

She is currently working on her second novel, “Letters on the Horizon,” while continuing to introduce her first book to readers through book events, signings, conversations, and independent bookstores. Morang had a book signing at Mockingbird Books in Katy on October 9 and will be having an author signing event at Barnes & Noble in Katy on November 7 at 1 p.m.

“My hope is that readers will travel with Father Simon and, when they close the book, become a little more attentive to their own journey—to the people they meet, the doors that unexpectedly open, and the moments they might otherwise pass by,” Morang said.