Cassandra Clare is the pseudonym of the author of the teenage trilogy The Mortal Instruments and its prequel The Infernal Devices. Cassandra Clare was born into an American family living in Tehran. Before reaching the age of 10, she managed to visit France, England Switzerland. From her student years, she lived in Los Angeles and New York, where she worked part-time in various magazines and publications. She began work on her novel "City of Bones" in 2004, inspired by the Manhattan cityscape.