Memories Are Beyond Forgetting No Matter How Bitter They Are. Reminiscence is a historical, multi-cultural novel inspired by actual events and based on the true story of a Filipina nurse who lost her father in the Vietnam War before she was born. She comes to America and works in a nursing home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she gets romantically involved with the grandson of a resident. Their romance unexpectedly leads the way to her finding her father, alive and well, and living in a suburb close to the nursing home with another family.