Booker-thon update : The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

I'm being very strict and saving all printed and online reviews until I've finished the books,so firmly closed yesterday's Times Book supplement on a piece on this one when I glimpsed the cover.
But I'm itching to know what it says because, sticking my neck out after 150 pages, I don't see how The Emperor's Children can fail to end up on my shortlist.
So far, throughly engaging characters, superbly readable and of course I think I know where it's heading with that picture on the cover though there is no mention of this anywhere on the book jacket blurb, just this clue
"how the events of a single day can change everything for ever"
If that proves to be the case then it's going to need to be good because, to my albeit limited knowledge, the world of fiction has barely had the courage or the will to turn its head and fix its gaze objectively in this direction.
And I am now a nervous wreck writing anything after Headmaster Mr Charkin's knuckle-rapping, chalk throwing disciplinary on the subject of misplaced apostrophes and Deputy Head Mistress, Ms Hill, marching in and lobbing the board duster across the classroom.I fully expect to log in and see my post with a mass of red ink circles all over the place and those words of terror, "See me" at the end:-)
But even worse I'm wondering if this book might be one of the Headmaster's pupils.Publisher genealogy is all too complicated to figure out from where I sit these days,imprint of imprint of imprint begat imprint of imprint. And by the way when and how did Penguin morph into Fig Tree?
Rest assured you can expect nothing but impartiality and complete honesty from dovegreyreader, but I do quite hope  this one doesn't go belly up and if it does, (should that comma be there?) that I can at least punctuate my deliberations correctly.
Tomorrow I intend to be completely brave, as in foolish, and try to give this baggy Booker-thon project some shape.Time to define exactly what I (that's as in me and only me) am looking for in a Booker Prize winner, it's folly I know.