That they may face the rising sun

I am reading a book the setting of which is in Ireland. It is called "That they may face the rising sun". I haven't yet found out why it is called that but I like the title. The book in itself is different from everything I have read so far and that alone is reason enough to like it. It talkes about a couple in Ireland. Whereas most of the Irish population has been forced to depart for England to find work, these two have decided to live out in the country. They seem to be middle-aged with no children. The odd thing is nothing much happens in this book. The seasons change, they are visited by various neighbors, they take care of their animals and the fields. And yet it is not boring. Everybody in the book is quite a character but then there are people that you don't get to know well, too. It is strange how much it is like real life without no real development in the protagonists and no conflict and yet it is so fascinating.

This may sound like a rather odd "Gedankensprung" but when I think of the title I think of my "girasole" or sunflowers that I planted. The seeds were given to me by Franco and the season being advanced as it is I put them in the soil a couple of weeks ago. They have begun to grow and there are about 11 now. (Unfortunately one I think is dying...) In Italian they are called "turns to the sun" and that is what they do. They are sitting on the windowsill and when I look at them at night all their little heads are turned to the window, and I think that they may face the rising sun.