The First Time He Hit Her cover art

The First Time He Hit Her

The shocking true story of the murder of Tara Costigan, the woman next door

 Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The First Time He Hit Her

By: Heidi Lemon
Narrated by: Sylvie DeCrespigny
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $27.99

Buy Now for $27.99

About this listen

 For readers of true crime and books such as See What You Made Me Do, a shocking and movingly told portrait of the murder of suburban mum Tara Costigan and an examination of why domestic violence affects us all

Tara Costigan was the woman next door. A hard worker. Quick to laugh and easy to like. She was happy, confident, strong. A woman who always looked after herself and her kids. Close with her family and her friends, she was much loved. Then, in 2013, she met Marcus Rappel. A local tradie, he was charming and sincere, they dated and fell in love. That should have been the end of a happy-ever-after story. But for Tara, it was much uglier. And for her family it would be devastating.

A year later, Tara was pregnant to Marcus. Her family had been worried for a while, but Tara didn't tell anyone how Marcus's jealousy was souring the relationship. She tried to keep it quiet. Despite everything, she never imagined he would be physically violent - he would never hurt her.

Tara was wrong. One fine day, the last day of summer in 2015, she was holding their newborn baby in her arms when he attacked her with an axe. Her murder seemed to come out of the blue. But as this extraordinary, often shocking book reveals, it did not.

The First Time He Hit Her is an attempt to understand why dozens of women are murdered each year by men who profess to love them. Crime Murder True Crime Emotionally Gripping
All stars
Most relevant
Brilliant piece of writing by Heidi Lemon. The story is absolutely heartbreaking but so well depicted from a variety of angles I felt were important to examine as an outsider. While listening to the audio version of the story, I felt like I was there at times and was kept awake for many nights after it. I highly recommend this book.

A must read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliant look into domestic violence and its impacts on whole family units. Well told and read.

The first time….

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was an interesting eye opener into domestic violence. My only feedback there was little mention of the baby involved

Very detailed insight into victims life before her tradefy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliantly written for such a sad, sad story. Completely avoidable. Those poor children, and the family...but what a remarkable family. The kind of kinship a lot of us envy. My heart goes out to them all

Utterly tragic, brilliantly written

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
well written
hard to listen to, moving, lots of emotions, captured well
thank you for sharing

sad truth

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.