The Maias by Eça de Queirós — the great 19th-century Portuguese novel, set partly in Lisbon society of the era when Figueira da Foz was becoming a fashionable summer resort. One of the finest works of Portuguese realism.
Blindness by José Saramago — the Nobel laureate's most internationally read novel; a good introduction to contemporary Portuguese fiction before or after a trip.
Journey to Portugal by José Saramago — a travel book in which Saramago drives across Portugal recording what he finds; central Portugal features throughout.
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa — not about Figueira specifically, but Portugal's most celebrated modernist work; the melancholy and beauty of its prose fits the out-of-season Atlantic coast well.