The setting for Sunrise Interrupted by Eden Monroe

  

Sunrise Interrupted

In the romantic suspense novel, Sunrise Interrupted, the film set for the fictional movie Retribution, co-starring Alexandra Martel (the female lead), is located on Belleisle Bay, New Brunswick, Canada. That’s also where the story’s male lead, Dr. Beau Remington, has his veterinary clinic, at Hatfield Point, also on the Bay.

I chose this setting for the book because of its natural beauty, along with the fact that most of New Brunswick’s Queens County area holds many fond childhood memories for me. Belleisle Bay, a fjord like arm of the Saint John River, is about as pretty as they come.

Now about the river that created the bay. At 673 kilometres, the Saint John River is the largest river in Eastern Canada, and it’s not like it’s is all ours either. It began life in two separate streams, one in the State of Maine, USA, the other in the Canadian province of Quebec, and joined forces to form the eighty-mile international border between the US and Canada (at that point). It’s also the boundary line between the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, but the latter province is where it really comes to life.

The Saint John River was originally known as Wolastoq meaning “the beautiful and bountiful river”, aptly named by the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) First Nation – the original inhabitants of the Dawnland area, along with the Peskotomuhkati Native American/First Nation, prior to European colonization. It’s still a cultural centre of the Wabanaki Confederacy. “The Wabanaki people are a group of five First Nations that are geographically located in the Eastern North America.” (asdeast.nbed.ca) However, on June 24, 1604 French explorers Pierre Du Gua, sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain found themselves in the area and upon seeing the river, mistakenly assumed they had to give it a name. Since it was the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, they decided it would be fitting to call it Riviere Saint-John or Saint John River. A request was actually filed in 2021 by the Wolastoqiyik to have the traditional name of Wolastoq recognized.

Often called the Rhine of North America, the river is indeed a bountiful waterway in many respects. The Saint John River Valley is lush and fertile, its gently rolling hills home to countless farms and agricultural interests, as well offering some of the most beautiful scenery in the province. Those breathtaking landscapes are certainly befitting Canada’s “Picture Province.”

The river and the people who look to it for an abundant way of life, take time from their labours every year to enjoy seasonal celebrations. There are any number of popular festivals, including, but not limited to: River Jam Fredericton, National French Fry Day, Diner en Blanc (Dinner dressed in white), Rendez-vous des artistes, and the Larlee Creek Hullabaloo.

People on the river know how to have a good time.

But while the locals like to make merry on occasion, the river itself is for the most part pretty laidback, although it does kick up its heels from time to time. Just such an occasion is the surging cataracts at Grand Falls, the largest waterfall east of Niagara Falls with a drop of seventy-five feet. As the river thunders headlong through this deep sheer-faced gorge it provides a prime source of hydroelectric power, the mighty roar of white water properly harnessed for our benefit. (There are three hydropower dams on the river with Mactaquac being the largest hydroelectric generating station in the Maritimes.) And then, somewhat spent it seems from its uncharacteristic show of vigour, the Saint John River relaxes into tranquility once again as it continues eastward, widening as it meanders along.

It’s during this journey to the Atlantic Ocean that it gives us Belleisle Bay. Still with a trick or two up its sleeve, at this point it acts like a glacial valley lake cradled by the St. Croix Highlands of the Appalachian Range that serves as its backdrop. Recreational fishers love this little bay where a days angling could offer up a whole host of goodies -- everything from pumpkin seed sunfish to southern channel catfish, the latter being “a very rare catch in Canada.”

 

 

A small portion of Belleisle Bay at Hatfield Point

 

Stately riverboats once plied these sparkling waters, and the last of the old riverboat hotels is still in operation a little further along at the village of Evandale on Belleisle Bay, known today as the Evandale Resort & Marina.

Onward the Saint John River flows on its way to the sea where it finally empties itself in the world-famous Bay of Fundy – that is unless it encounters a coastal high tide. Then you can literally watch the powerful Atlantic Ocean push this 673 kilometre river backwards to create the phenomenon called the Reversing Falls as it reverses against the prevailing current. Then, until slack tide six hours later, salt water flows upriver an amazing thirty-six kiilometres, under a covering of fresh water to Oak Point. There, having reached the limit of saltwater infiltration, the show is basically over and the river is … well, just a river again. Back down toward the coast, when the tide recedes, the river goes about its original business of outward flow into the ocean. Mission accomplished.

That’s a nutshell look at the Saint John River, and when the movie producers were scouting for a suitable location for Retribution, they chose well. Who better to play such a genial host than this celebrated river.

 

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