Life as a Casketeer

A celebration of life and death. A book to make you laugh and cry.

A deep, funny and personal story about the lives of New Zealand's favourite undertakers, Francis and Kaiora Tipene. Born and raised in Northland, the married couple and parents to five boys now star in the third series of their own reality television show The Casketeers, a show about day-to-day life (and death) at their Auckland funeral business, Tipene Funerals.

This is Francis and Kaiora's story, a story about a modest yet richly cultural Maori upbringing in the communities of Pawarenga and Kaitaia, the trials and tribulations of their love and marriage, the joy of raising five sons, and the dedication and mahi required to grow a business. It's also a book about traditions of tangihanga, tikanga Maori and Polynesian ways of mourning the dead.

Inspirational, hilarious, and wise: this is a book to make you see dying, grief and remembrance in a totally new light.