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Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Laura is a graduate of Transylvania University—in Lexington, Kentucky, not Romania—where she met Aris, the charming Greek student she later married.
Laura practiced labor and employment law for 34 years, all but two of them in Pittsburgh. She was a full equity partner at two Pittsburgh law firms and held leadership roles in both. Listed in Best Lawyers in America and other peer-reviewed publications, she also held leadership positions in several nonprofit organizations and the local Bar Association, and served on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, educating fellow attorneys. Additionally, she often spoke to business and HR organizations and published articles on legal topics.
In her spare time, Laura was a corporate spouse. Aris rose from Senior Engineer B to become President and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company—and she never got a nickel of legal work from it.
They loved everything about Pittsburgh—except the weather and the roads. The climate drove them to retire to Naples, Florida, for the months they’re not on the beloved Greek island. In Naples, Laura serves on two nonprofit boards, mentors a student, participates in four book groups, cooks, and writes.
Greek by Osmosis is her first book. It became the #1 Bestseller on Amazon in Cyclades Travel Guides less than two weeks after publication.
Reviewed by Carol Thompson for Readers' Favorite
Greek by Osmosis: My Life on a Small Greek Island by Laura Aristidou Candris is a memoir that transports readers to the Cyclades through vivid detail and wry storytelling. Beginning with her marriage to Aris, a Greek national she met in Kentucky, Candris chronicles a life shaped by cross-cultural love, architectural headaches, culinary traditions, and the rhythms of island existence. The early chapters describe her first journey to the island in 1978, where she met her in-laws for the first time. Later, she recounts the challenges of buying land and building a home in a place where bureaucracy, bribes, and unpredictable construction timelines tested her patience.
Laura Aristidou Candris’ anecdotes are often playful but carry a note of admiration for the islanders’ resourcefulness and traditions. Food, naturally, plays a central role, from meals prepared by her beloved mother-in-law, Kiki, to the inclusion of family recipes at the end of the book. What sets this memoir apart from similar memoirs is its blend of personal history with cultural observation. Candris does not romanticize every moment, as there are frustrations with officials, appliances that break, and roads that wash away, but she writes with affection and perspective. Her voice is warm, conversational, and tinged with a hint of humor. Greek by Osmosis will appeal to readers who enjoy memoirs rooted in place, stories of cross-cultural marriage, or simply those who dream of Mediterranean summers. It is both a portrait of an island and of a marriage, told with clarity, warmth, and a keen eye for detail.
