Rosamund Pike was exposed to "mature ideas" as a child.
Rosamund Pike
The 37-year-old actress found it "intoxicating" spending a lot of time backstage with her opera singer parents and always felt like she moved in an "adult world".
Speaking of why she loves novel 'The Go-Between' by L.P. Hartley, she said: "I read this as a teenager and identified with the young boy, Leo. He goes to stay in a big house and thinks he's in a world of gods and goddesses who are actually all of the grown-ups.
"Two of them, enraptured in a love affair, start using him as a go between.
"That feeling of moving in an adult world was familiar to me. My parents are opera singers and I spent a lot of time backstage.
"Opera deals with big, dramatic things - affairs of the heart, murder - so there was a wonderful exposure to very mature ideas.
"I was a fly on the wall - nothing inappropriate, but it was exciting for me to be around grown-ups and stay up late. I found it very intoxicating."
The 'A United Kingdom' actress loves to read, but isn't looking for escapism when she settles down with a good book.
She explained: "I'm not really looking for my novels to give me an escape into fantasy, I've always wanted reality.
"It's linked to what I do as actor, getting into someone else's head."
Rosamund's passion for the printed word began at a young age because she didn't have a television in her parents' home.
She told Britain's ELLE magazine: "The Moomins and Enid Blyton were what got me into reading. We lived in a cottage in Lincolnshire for a while with no TV, so we'd sit by the fire with books or play cards."
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