White Headache

by Benjamin Weberink

In the violent, beautiful heart of the city, Kryzhova wakes with blood in his mouth and no name for the pain inside him. Surveillance systems blink. Birds circle in cloudy skies. Wind cuts through bone. Imported guns are sold. And somewhere behind it all, something watches with familiar eyes. As Kryzhova searches for his lost memory in a world allergic to grief, the inexpressible piercing inside his head doesn’t cease. Haunted by excruciating static errors, the everlasting image of someone with wings who once took him to heaven and back is found under his skin, around his metal skeleton, as he aches beneath a wounded memory.

White Headache is a bleak requiem for a man unravelling inside a digital ghostscape, where loss howls through broken glass towers, manhood bleeds into river water, and the only remembrance left is found in the scars the body won’t let him forget.

304 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2025

About the author

Benjamin Weberink was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 2002, and has since lived across Europe, gathering impressions of places, voices and images that shape the texture of his writing.

His work sits in the space between beauty and unease. It does not try to hide the rough edges; instead, it brings them forward in a way that feels both poetic and brutally honest. He is drawn to the medieval world, with its mix of devotion and brutality, and to the woods, which are beautiful but also violent and unpredictable, all of which are essential to his work.

With his new book, White Headache, he deepens this vision, exploring the fragile boundary between life and memory.

Beyond his writing, Benjamin is the founder of Kastle Five, a Europe-based collective devoted to independent creation and literary work.

Reviews

[Sia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark, poetic novel that feels like falling into someone’s broken memory. The writing is vivid and emotional, and the atmosphere is intense from the first page. It’s confusing at times, but in a way that feels intentional and powerful. A haunting, beautifully written book that stays with you.
Definitely the kind of book that will stay with you. 🖤

[Kaitlin La Du · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in the middle of reading White Headache as we speak. I will say that I have never had such an urge to write on a book like I have with this one -- and I have been! Because every sentence feels like poetry that I want to remember while pushing forward the narrative.

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

White Headache is not for the faint hearted, poetic, melancholic, heartbreaking, and at times brutal. But that’s what makes it so deeply worthwhile. Benjamin’s words don’t just tell a story, they pierce, linger, and demand to be felt. A rare kind of writing that stays with you long after the last page. You can find it on Amazon. His second book, a big step for a young writer with so much ahead.

[Monique Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thankful for the chance to be able to read it pre-release. A beautiful poetic novel of a sad, melancholic world from which it is impossible to escape. Read it!!