Preview of The Guide Summary:

Widely considered to be Narayan's best book, The Guide is the story of Raju, a scamp who ends up becoming a saint. For most of his life Raju had managed to manipulate other people's emotional needs for his own advantage, but the novel shows him going beyond himself to do a genuinely disinterested act at the cost of his life.

Raju, in other words, dies so that others may live.

Raju begins his professional life as the owner of a sweetmeat stall at the railway station in a region of India that has become a popular tourist attraction. He soon discovers that he has a knack for telling people what they would like to hear and becomes a fulltime guide. This profession leads him into an affair with one of his clients, Rosie. She is the wife of Marco, a man who does not...